Mortgage interest rates are at 15-year highs so, if you’re in the market for a home loan, it’s important to research the best value lenders in the market. Our 2023 Outstanding Value Home Loan Awards reveal the products and providers that deliver the best mortgages for Kiwi homeowners.
Finding the right mortgage can cost, or save you, thousands of dollars over the life of the loan. Currently, on Canstar’s database there’s a wide disparity between the lowest and highest rates offered from different lenders for the same types of mortgages.
Depending on your choice of lender, if you’re after a mortgage with a one-year fixed rate, you could pay from 6.69% interest p.a. or as much as 8.09%. For an average NZ home loan of around $370,000 on a 25-year term, that’s a difference of $336 per month in repayments: $2542 vs $2878. Over a year, that’s a saving of $4032!
Canstar Awards Best Home Loans 2024
If you’re looking for the best value home loans, Canstar can help. Each year our expert financial panel researches the different mortgage products and lenders in the market and awards the best our Outstanding Value Home Loan Awards.
This year our research team compared and rated 59 home loan products from 11 providers, across five home loan categories
Each home loan reviewed was awarded points for the array of features it offers. However the most important factor considered by our awards panel was the mortgage product’s overall cost. The top-rated mortgage providers in each field were then awarded our 5-Star Rating for Outstanding Value.
This means it’s simple to discover the best value home loan provider to match your needs. For example, if you’re after the best fixed-rate home loans, just look at the lenders that have earned 5-Star Ratings in our Residential Fixed category.
Outstanding Value Home Loan Lenders
In addition to our 5-Star Ratings for Outstanding Value Home Loans, our research team also rewards the mortgage providers that offer the best range of products across residential and investment lending. Those lenders receive our Outstanding Value Home Lender Awards:
And, in culmination, the home loan provider that excels across all mortgage products, plus earns praise from consumers for its dedication to customer service, walks away with our prestigious top award Bank of the Year | Home Loans.
For more on our Bank of the Year | Home Loans Award click here
Outstanding Value 5-Star Residential Home Loans
Below are the 2024 winners of our 5-Star Ratings for residential home loans, across fixed, floating and line of credit mortgages:
5-Star Outstanding Value Fixed Residential Home Loans |
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BNZ |
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Heartland Bank |
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Westpac |
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5-Star Outstanding Value Floating Residential Home Loans |
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Heartland Bank |
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The Co-operative Bank |
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5-Star Outstanding Value Line of Credit Residential Home Loans |
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Heartland Bank |
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The Co-operative Bank |
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Outstanding Value 5-Star Investment Home Loans
Below are the 2024 winners of our 5-Star Ratings for investment home loans, across fixed and floating mortgages:
5-Star Outstanding Value Fixed Investment Home Loans |
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BNZ |
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Kiwibank |
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5-Star Outstanding Value Floating Investment Home Loans |
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The Co-operative Bank |
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Kiwibank |
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Outstanding Value Lenders
Canstar’s Outstanding Value | Home Lender Awards recognise the financial institutions that provide outstanding value to borrowers through their home loan products across all lending profiles, in both the residential and investment categories.
Here are the lenders that offer Outstanding Value home loans across all their residential loans:
Outstanding Value Residential Home Lender Award Winners |
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Heartland Bank |
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The Co-operative Bank |
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Westpac |
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The lenders that offer Outstanding Value home loans across all their investment loans:
Outstanding Value Investment Home Lender Award Winners |
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BNZ |
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Kiwibank |
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For more on our Home Loan Star Ratings click here
Bank of the Year | Home Loans: BNZ
Congratulations to BNZ, the winner of this year’s Bank of the Year | Home Loans Award. The award recognises the lender that not only offers mortgage products that combine the best features with the lowest costs, but also delivers on great customer service.
When awarding the BNZ our top home loans accolade, our research team noted that the BNZ offers great value fixed-term mortgage products. Indeed, the BNZ earns 5-Star Outstanding Value Home Loans ratings across both our Investment and Residential lending categories.
However, it was the great feedback from BNZ mortgage holders recorded in the Customer Satisfaction section of our ratings methodology that secured the win for the bank.
In addition to standard fixed-rate and floating mortgages, BNZ also offers :
- Standard/Fly Buys Home Loan: provides the chance to earn up to 1000 Flybuys per year as you pay off your mortgage
- TotalMoney/Offset Home Loan (floating rate): save on interest payments by offsetting cash balances you have in up to 50 connected accounts against your mortgage
- Rapid Repay / Revolving Credit (floating rate): a line of credit mortgage that, like an offset account, allows you to use your cashflow to minimise interest costs
For more details on this year’s Bank of the Year | Home Loans Award, click here.
In the market for a home loan? Canstar can help!
If you’re considering buying a property, Canstar can help make the process a little easier. In addition to our rankings and awards for Outstanding Value Home Loans, our free and easy-to-use comparison tool covers all the major players in the home loan market.
Not only does it help you quickly and easily find the products with the lowest rates, it also shows which lenders and mortgages have earned our prestigious Star Ratings, which are awarded on the basis of our expert analysis. For our 5-Star home loan awards click here, or to compare rates hit this button:
Compare home loan rates for free with Canstar!
About the author of this page
This report was written by Canstar’s Editor, Bruce Pitchers. Bruce has three decades’ experience as a journalist and has worked for major media companies in the UK and Australasia, including ACP, Bauer Media Group, Fairfax, Pacific Magazines, News Corp and TVNZ. Prior to Canstar, he worked as a freelancer, including for The Australian Financial Review, the NZ Financial Markets Authority, and for real estate companies on both sides of the Tasman.
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