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Reserve Bank data shows while fixed-term rates have dropped significantly this year, floating rates have remained high. Photo: RNZ Kiwibank is cutting its floating home loan rates by 50 basis points, from 8.25 percent to 7.75 percent. The Reserve Bank will update the official cash rate tomorrow, and calls have been growing for a drop of 50 basis points, which would take the OCR to 4.75 percent. Its data shows that while fixed-term rates have dropped significantly this year, floating rates have remained high. Borrowers were taking out floating rates of 8.45 percent on average in September, compared to a peak of 8.6 percent. In comparison, the average one-year rate had dropped from a peak of 7.76 percent to 6.9 percent, and rates have fallen further since. Kiwibank chief customer officer ...

Trans Tasman Resources has advised the High Court it is abandoning its appeal. Photo: Biosphoto / Michel Rauch An offshore wind energy company has reiterated its proposal to install 70 turbines off the coast of Taranaki is not compatible with seabed mining. Trans-Tasman Resources' (TTR) plan to mine 50 million tonnes of the seabed every year for 30 years in the South Taranaki Bight has been included on the government's list of fast-track projects. In May, off-shore wind companies sent a briefing paper to government ministers likely to be involved in the fast-track process warning them the two activities were mutually exclusive. Taranaki Offshore Partnership wants to build an offshore wind farm capable of generating 1GW - enough to power more than 650,000 New Zealand homes - off the coas...

Photo: RNZ Further cuts to the Reserve Bank's official cash rate are not expected be enough to drive housing market prices up in the short-term. QV's September data indicates average national values had a month-on-month drop of 0.4 percent in September, and were down 1.6 percent in the September quarter compared with a 2 percent quarterly decline in QV's August index. The national average value rose just 0.3 percent to $901,920 on the same time last year. The rate of decline was seen in most of the major centres, with an average three-month rolling rate of reduction in Auckland (-1.7 percent), Christchurch (-0.8 percent), Hamilton (-1.2 percent), Dunedin (-0.8 percent), with a notable exception in Wellington, where home values dropped at twice the national average rate. The Wellington re...

A single person living alone got $519 in the pension per week. Photo: Yuri Arcurs / 123RF An 80-year-old woman who has agreed to pay her landlord an extra $100 a fortnight for the next 45 fortnights to clear her rent debt is one of a growing number of struggling pensioners, budgeting advisers say. The woman was before the Tenancy Tribunal recently, owing $4489 in rent arrears for a Clover Park home. Her landlord wanted to terminate the tenancy, but she argued she should repay the debt instead. She was paying $510 a week in rent and had been renting the property since October 2023. A single person living alone got $519 in the pension per week. She told the tribunal she was prone to being forgetful and had undergone two significant surgeries on her arms since the beginning of the tenancy,...

Mainfreight said profits have improved since last year. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Transport heavyweight Mainfreight says the first half of its financial year has beaten expectations with an 8.5 percent increase in revenue to $2.55 billion. However, underlying profit for the six months ended September was expected to be down 9.3 percent on the year earlier to $158.5 million. The investor update follows a big drop in Mainfreight's full-year profit for the year ended March, as global trade conditions returned to normal from the peak demand period during the Covid-19 pandemic. The company said the second half of the calendar year was better than 2023, with volumes and shipments up across all its divisions, and new customers having created opportunities for margin improvement. Geopolitic...