Geektastic:rayonline:Geektastic:Dairyxox: Google ZIRP and NIRP.
Sure these arn't mortgage rates we can purchase off the street, but part of a modern "interest rate apartheid".
NZ seems to like high interest rates. (In Japan the rate for home loans is 0.49%...!)
Also if you look at NZ banks, the margin between what they borrow at and what they lend at is much greater than many comparable economies: I estimate our rates are at least 1% greater than they should be.
But so is the savings rate at .5 or 0.25%. Maybe that is why they prefer to put money in NZ as an overseas investor.
Of course. Japanese housewives borrowing at 0.5% and getting 5% in NZ etc
Yep, the good old Yen carry trade. However, it only works if the currency doesn't move against you. There's a reason why the trade involving shorting Japanese Government Bonds to buy higher yielding ones in other currencies is known as the Widowmaker
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