17 Retail mortgage interest rates had remained flat for the past few months after a rise in January, but have taken a slight dip more recently. The small rise in rates will have directly reduced the number of people in the market as it reduces the amount of money people are able and willing to borrow. On top of this, interest rate sensitivity – the exposure to longer term interest rates - may be making people more cautious to take on debt when they know we’ve moved past the bottom of the interest rate cut cycle and rates will eventually go up. This is despite the projected OCR remaining flat until mid-2019 at least. Interest Rates Average Two Year Fixed Rates - % Projected Official Cash Rate - % Source: RBNZ and Interest.co.nz Mortgage Interest Rates - %