Westpac last night moved to reclaim margin in its mortgage lending business through price hikes on fixed rate home loans.
The country’s second largest mortgage lender notified brokers that it was boosting the cost of four and five year fixed rate loans for owner occupiers by 30 basis points.
The repricing signals Westpac’s exit from the pointy end of the four year fixed rate market where the bank’s previous rate of 1.99 per cent for packaged borrowers was only bettered by NAB by one basis point.
Westpac’s new four year rate of 2.29 per cent is now more expensive than CBA (2.19 per cent) and matches ANZ’s package offer.
Pricing on four year fixed mortgages at Westpac’s regional banking subsidiaries - St George, Bank of Melbourne and Bank SA – has also increased by 30 basis points to 2.29 per cent for packaged customers.
The Westpac subsidiaries told brokers that the rate rises took into account the needs of borrowers, shareholders “and the economic landscape we operate in”.
In the five year market, Westpac has hiked its packaged rate 30 basis points to 2.59 per cent.
That means Westpac is now more expensive than NAB (2.24 per cent) and ANZ (2.29 per cent).