Buying guide
What is the Official Cash Rate (OCR)?
These three little letters are kind of a big deal
AI summary
The Official Cash Rate (OCR), set by the Reserve Bank (RBNZ), is a key tool for managing New Zealand's inflation. It's the interest rate at which the RBNZ lends to banks, directly influencing consumer mortgage and savings rates.
Raising the OCR cools the economy to fight inflation but can risk a recession. For homeowners, a practical strategy to manage fluctuating rates is interest rate averaging—splitting a mortgage into several portions with different fixed-term lengths to provide more certainty.
What is the OCR?
First, what exactly is the Reserve Bank?
What is the OCR?
Jeanette Thomas explains the OCR
The OCR is a tool for controlling inflation
The OCR influences the supply of money in the economy.
The problem with the OCR
All debt is affected by the OCR.
How mortgage holders can protect themselves against OCR increases
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