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ANZ announced today it has again dropped interest rates, this time as a response to government’s announcement last week of a $10 million conditional housing assistance grant for families wishing to construct new homes.
It has slashed by 50 basis points its fixed and variable rates for both owner-occupied and residential property loans.
ANZ’s owner-occupied loans now come at a first year fixed rate of 7.25 percent with variable of 7.5 percent, while customers taking out residential property loans should expect to pay a 7.5 percent fixed rate for the first year of payment and an 8 percent variable afterwards.
Business Index Rate was cut by 25 basis points and now stands at 9.6 percent.
“This reduction passes on material benefits to both corporate and retail customers and is in compliance with Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) policies to boost economic growth,” said Norman Wilson, ANZ CEO Central Pacific Region and General Manager Fiji.
“ANZ is accordingly well positioned to assist with Government’s 2010 National Budget announcement last week allocating a housing assistance grant worth F$10million to provide assistance to the needy for the construction of new homes.”
Wilson said the security of owning a home is an aspiration for many of ANZ’s customers and is the pathway towards long term financial security for families.
“This interest rate reduction makes ANZ’s home loan offering very competitive and accessible in the market,” he added.
Wilson said ANZ welcomes the RBF Governor’s announcement of the removal of the lending rate and interest rate spread policies and that ANZ will continue to comply with the spirit of the regulation, which is to make credit more accessible to the market.
“The relaxation of this RBF policy will allow the banks to price for risk more accurately and is a reflection of the improved economic conditions and the stronger consultative partnership between RBF and the commercial banks,” Wilson said.
In its 2010 Budget announced last Friday, government said its $10 million housing grant will be available to families or individuals who want to construct their first house and who meet the commercial bank loan serviceability requirements, can substantially contribute towards the 20 per cent deposit requirement but do not have enough funds to meet the total deposit requirements.
“Each successful applicant will be given a maximum of $10,000. This would mean that 1,000 families can benefit from this scheme. Based on an average cost of $100,000 for a basic house, this grant scheme has the potential to generate $100 million into the economy,” said Prime Minister and Finance Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, when presenting the national budget.
