Mortgage pain: How much more you'll pay

The cost of paying your mortgage is set to rise this year as interest rates head up. Photo / Ted Baghurst

Fixing a $300,000 mortgage for two years will cost you more this year than it did last year.

Figures supplied by rate-tracking firm Canstar show the average interest rate for a two-year fixed term has increased from 4.74 to 4.87 per cent.

It's only a 13 basis points jump, but on a $300,000 mortage over a 30-year term paid monthly it will now cost $288 more a year to service.

And the difference is even greater for longer fixed terms, which have risen at a faster rate than shorter terms.

Fixing a $300,000 mortgage for three years is now $420 a year more and fixing for five years will cost $816 a year more to service compared to fixing for five years in February last year.

The average interest rate for three-year fixed terms has increased by 19 basis points to 5.17 per cent and the average rate for five years has increased by 36 basis points to 5.71 per cent.

Canstar figures show no change in the average rate for one-year terms.

The only rate to fall was the average floating rate which was down 14 basis points to 5.62 per cent.

That is despite the official cash rate being cut to a record low of 1.75 per cent in November last year.

Longer-term rates have been rising in the past six months and in recent weeks there has been a flurry of increases by the banks.

Kiwibank has increased some of its fixed-term mortgages rates twice already this year and ASB also announced plans to increase its rates this week.

On Wednesday interest.co.nz reported that SBS bank and the Co-operative Bank had also raised rates for the second time this month.

Canstar general manager Jose George said there had been a subtle but steady increase in mortgage rates in recent weeks, which consumers would need to adjust to.

"In the past twelve months, the average rate for a two-year fixed agreement has risen from 4.74 per cent to 4.87 per cent.

"Taking a $300,000 mortgage as an example, this increase has added an additional debt burden of approximately $280 per annum and unfortunately, I don't think we've seen an end to the increases."

George said the increases were being driven by the cost of international funding for New Zealand's banks.

Canstar had already seen a shift in consumer behaviour as a result of the changes.

"Traditionally visitors to our site have investigated two-year fixed deals, but in recent weeks traffic has slowed in this area while increasing in areas such as longer fixed-rate periods, variable rate and interest only."

Based on a $300,000 mortgage over 30 years paid monthly

Use the sorted mortgage calculator to work out how much you could be paying when you next re-fix your mortgage debt.