Interest.co.nz — NZ Mortgage Rates, Economic Data & Property Commentary

The Facts

Interest.co.nz is an independent NZ financial news and data site founded by Bernard Hickey and David Chaston in 1999. The site is best known for its comprehensive mortgage rate comparison page — every bank's carded rate side-by-side, updated when banks change pricing. It also publishes term deposit rate tables, foreign exchange rates, and a daily news feed covering the NZ economy, monetary policy, banking, housing and rural finance. The property section publishes residential market commentary, rental yield analysis, and feasibility-related research. Free to access; some content is behind a paywall.

A Developer's Take

The mortgage rate table is the page every NZ developer should have bookmarked. Every bank's carded fixed rates side by side, updated within hours of a bank repricing. No marketing copy, no spin, just the numbers.

I use it twice. First, before any feasibility model, to ground my interest assumption in what's actually available today. Bank websites quote a single "from" rate. Interest.co.nz shows you the spread between the cheap special and the carded rate, which is what you'll actually be quoted with normal LVR and income.

Second, before every refinance conversation. Walk into a broker or banker meeting knowing where every other bank is pricing and the conversation goes differently. They know you've done the work, you know the floor.

The other thing on Interest.co.nz worth reading: the daily news feed. Bernard Hickey-era editorial standards, independent of bank ownership. When RBNZ moves, when a bank changes lending policy, when LVR rules shift, Interest reports it before mainstream outlets pick it up.

The mortgage table is free. The deeper data products (term deposit comparison, business lending rates, rural lending) are also free. Some content is behind a paid wall but the rate tables are not.

If you're an active NZ developer and Interest.co.nz isn't a daily tab for you, that's something to fix.

When to use this

Reference Interest.co.nz any time you need to know the actual current carded mortgage rate — its table is the standard. The daily news feed is the fastest way to stay current on RBNZ, bank, and government policy moves affecting development. Use the property pages for cross-checking your yield and feasibility assumptions against published market data. The independent voice (not bank-owned) is the comparative advantage versus Westpac or ANZ commentary.