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New Zealand's falling interest rates are the envy of a huge number of borrowers who have mortgages on much higher fixed rates.
Interest rates have fallen significantly in the last six months, but anybody who signed up to a fixed rate before that will now be paying much higher interest than people signing up now.
Break fees to get out of fixed rates, which are designed to cover a bank's losses, are often very expensive.
Fraser and Anna Walsh's mortgage locks them in at 9.2% for another year. If they could pick today's much rosier interest rates they would save $750 a month.
"It's very tempting...the catch is that to pay us out of it at the moment it would cost us in the vicinity of about $9000," Fraser says.
And they are not alone. Mortgage brokers spoken to by ONE News say they are dealing daily with homeowners wanting to break their rates.
The government has stopped short of intervening, but is sending banks a strong message.
"The taxpayer is pulling their weight in keeping the banking system stable and there is an expectation that the banks are going to pull their weight," Finance Minister Bill English says.
The cut has come as good news to the battered housing market, as it deals with a declining second-hand market and price conscious buyers.
Kendall Langston of David Reid Homes expects the lower rates will stimulate demand.
"What I expect...is more inquiry. People who have land that are perhaps sitting on it, who will say 'OK, it's time to build our house'."
Wellington broker Finlay Abbott is advising people to pay the fees to break free of long-term mortgages and start saving on interest.
"The gold in this scenario is gonna be getting a long-term low five-year fixed rate, because if you wait until your maturity in 2010 it will have gone," Abbott says.
But while these low interest rates last, putting your savings in the bank won't be generating much return.
Lisa Choegyal has decided bricks and mortar are a better investment.
"I'm bringing my money, my savings I've had from England as well as money in a savings account here, and buying a tiny little cottage in Brooklyn," Choegyal says.
But for the Walshes, the lower those rates go the more they will have to pay to get out of their current mortgage.
"We actually had a look at it back in December last year, and it was about $6000 then, so in the space of one month it's gone from $6000 to $9000," Fraser says.
They have decided to hang on and ride it out.
