BNZ has jumped the gun on the expected Reserve Bank Official Cash Rate rate cut this Thursday.

It unveiled a one year carded fixed home loan rate on Friday (September 4) of 4.35% under its "Classic" branding.

This requires borrowers to have at least 20% equity, and their everyday banking and one other product with BNZ.

The offer started Friday and is stated to run until Friday September 20, 2015.

At 4.35%, this rate is now the lowest home loan rate available in the New Zealand market, and the lowest since the 1960s.

This new rate trumps HSBC's 4.49% rate available to its Premier customers.

Interestingly, the one year BNZ rate of 4.35% is now lower than the equivalent rate offered by its parent NAB in Australia. The NAB rate is currently 4.49%. BNZ now joins Westpac and HSBC is offering lower rates for selected fixed rate terms in New Zealand than in Australia.

Wholesale rates are still falling. They are low enough to support these new low rate offers, and still allow borrowers to negotiate hard for below-card rates.

The mortgage market is all about haggling, especially if you have at least 20% equity in your property.

See all banks' carded, or advertised, home loan rates here.

Almost all home loan competition is now back focused on the interest rate. Non-rate cash incentives are still there for some banks (including Kiwibank) and while we thought they might disappear altogether, they haven't and they are still worth keeping an eye on. You can see see the current non-rate home loan incentives here.

The new floating and fixed mortgage rates compare at 9:00 am today (Friday) as follows: