Late 2019 Mortgage Rates

Forums › Off topic › Late 2019 Mortgage Rates

Gurezaemon

~HONYAKKER!~
1417 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1566

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#258534 8-Oct-2019 17:13

Hi all.

I'm due to be renewing my mortgage, and as it appears that the rates are pretty low now, I'm tempted to lock in a 5-year fixed 4.49% rate, instead of going for a 2-year fixed rate of 4.09%.
We don't anticipate selling within the next 5 years, and I think it pretty unlikely that we'll be able to pay it off early.

Thoughts? Advice? Should I expect the current rates to stay low for the next couple of years, and therefore lock in a lower 1- or 2-year rate with the expectation of doing the same again when it's term is up?

This is a filtered page: currently showing replies marked as answers. Click here to see full discussion.

jonathan18

7415 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2850

ID Verified

Trusted

#2333085 8-Oct-2019 22:09

Remember, there is inevitably a different and higher set of rates for low equity mortgages - I’ve hit this before, wondering why a friend’s rates were so much higher than mine. That could explain the relatively high rates being quoted above.

This is pretty obvious if you check this out: https://www.interest.co.nz/borrowing

driller2000

936 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 374

ID Verified

#2333513 9-Oct-2019 18:11

Rates / Incentives:

Rates - check https://www.interest.co.nz/borrowing/mortgages - based on this you will get a sense of market rates.
Depending on banks keenness you MAY get discounts / incentives - I say MAY as it depends on the market and right now they don't seem to be competing that hard: https://www.interest.co.nz/borrowing/home-loan-incentives
If you get a cheaper rate - keep payments at the previous higher level.

However, What Really Matters IME:

So - while I have said all of the above - IMO this doesn't mean SFA.

What will really make the biggest difference to your mortgage is:

DON'T borrow more than you need to.
PAY it off as quickly as you can - every loose cent - extra income - new higher paying job ---> pay down your mortgage. (The floating portion is handy for this.)
DON'T increase it - esp. for extravagant holidays, over priced cars, useless expensive toys, coke & hookers etc.
THINK carefully about leveraging off it into other property - yes I know its NZ'r s favourite hobby - but again not without risk.
AND - PAY IT OFF AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN.

Hope something above helps and good luck with your decision.