ANZ Group Holdings (ASX:ANZ, NZE:ANZ) said more New Zealand customers were asking about switching from a floating rate home loan to a fixed rate home loan recently, after retail home loan rates started to rise, Radio New Zealand reported on Thursday.

The Reserve Bank indicated another cut to the official cash rate was very likely. However, wholesale rates had almost completely priced in a rate cut, with the resulting adjustment in wholesale rates pushing up the rates offered by lenders to home-loan borrowers.

Reserve Bank of New Zealand governor Anna Breman said on Monday that while the forward path for the policy rate indicated a slight probability of another rate cut in the near term.

"However, if economic conditions evolve as expected, the cash rate is likely to remain at its current level of 2.25% for some time," Breman said.

She added that the central bank is "closely monitoring wholesale market interest rates, and their effect on households and businesses."

ANZ economist David Croy said, "2026 was always expected to be a year characterized by higher interest rates, especially in the two to five-year part of the swap curve."

Floating rate home loans clocked in at NZ$51.6 billion in October, up from NZ$42.7 billion in the same month in the previous year, per the report.

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