ANZ raises fixed rates

ANZ, Australia’s fourth-largest bank, has raised its fixed rates for both owner-occupiers and investors by up to 0.55 percentage points.

RateCity.com.au showed the changes to ANZ’s lowest fixed rates, for owner-occupiers paying principal and interest:

“ANZ’s fixed rate hikes come amid a distinct lack of competition in the fixed-rate market and heat from funding pressures,” said Sally Tindall (pictured above), RateCity.com.au research director. “ANZ might still be at the forefront of the fight for new customers with its $4,000 cashback offer, but it’s clearly not hoping to woo them on to a fixed rate.”

ANZ is not the only bank hiking fixed rates. Macquarie Bank, too, has increased its fixed rates by up to 0.36 pp for both owner-occupier and investor loans. CBA also moved its fixed rate just over a week ago.

See the table below for the number of lenders that have changed at least one fixed rate in the last month, according to RateCity.com.au:

Following this move from ANZ, now just two fixed rates remain under 6% at the big four banks: Westpac’s two-year fixed rate and NAB’s three-year fixed rate for owner-occupiers paying principal interest, both of which are precariously perched at 5.99%. 

“Unsurprisingly, most borrowers are opting to stay variable while the cash rate is in a state of flux, unless of course they’re one of the lucky ones still on an ultra-low fixed rate from a couple of years ago,” Tindall said.

According to the latest ABS statistics, just 5% of new and refinanced loans opted for a fixed rate in the month of May – “a far cry from the peak in July 2021 when 46% of these loans were locked in a fixed rate,” she said.

Use the comment section below to tell us how you felt about this.