July home loans snapshot: Fresh market leaders emerge as rates hit new bottom
Just when the market appeared to be quietening, some seismic shifts at the lower end of the home loan market have changed the rate landscape once again according to the latest edition of the Mozo Banking Roundup.
Mozo figures reveal that both fixed rates and variable rates continued to slide during June, with new rate leaders emerging in both categories in the past two weeks.
So where do rates sit now, and what can we expect in the month ahead? Here’s our July snapshot.
A fixed rate below 2.00%
Perhaps most significant of all was the monumental change from Bank of us earlier this week, whose new fixed rate FlexiDiscount Home Loan offer crashed through the 2.00% barrier!
Compare home loans - last updated January 23, 2021
Special Offer Fixed Rate Home Loan
Owner Occupier, Principal & Interest
interest rate
comparison rate
Initial monthly repayment
1.99% p.a.
fixed 3 years2.70% p.a.Limited time 3 Year Fixed Rate Special Offer for purchase or refinance. Rate lock option available. No monthly or ongoing fees.
CompareCompareSpecial Offer Fixed Rate Home Loan
Limited time 3 Year Fixed Rate Special Offer for purchase or refinance. Rate lock option available. No monthly or ongoing fees.
- interest rate
- 1.99% p.a.
fixed 3 years
- comparison rate
- 2.70% p.a.
- upfront fees
- $520
- Ongoing fees
- $0.00
- Discharge Fee
- $0.00
- Extra repayments
- yes - free up to $10,000 p.a.
- Redraw facility
- no
- Offset account
- no
- Maximum loan to value ratio
- 80.00%
- minimum borrowing amount
- $50,000
- maximum borrowing amount
- $1,000,000
- type of mortgage
- Fixed
- Repayment types
- Principal & Interest
- Availability
- Owner Occupier
- Repayment options
- Weekly, Fortnightly, Monthly
- Special Offers
- -
Read our Mozo Review to learn more about the Special Offer Fixed Rate Home Loan
UHomeLoan
Owner Occupier, Principal & Interest
interest rate
comparison rate
Initial monthly repayment
1.75% p.a.
fixed 3 years2.22% p.a.$0 fees and easy application with the Mozo Experts Choice Home Lender Bank of the Year.^ Choose between weekly, fortnightly or monthly repayments. 3 year fixed rates are for new Owner Occupier Principal & Interest loans.
CompareCompareUHomeLoan
$0 fees and easy application with the Mozo Experts Choice Home Lender Bank of the Year.^ Choose between weekly, fortnightly or monthly repayments. 3 year fixed rates are for new Owner Occupier Principal & Interest loans.
- interest rate
- 1.75% p.a.
fixed 3 years
- comparison rate
- 2.22% p.a.
- upfront fees
- $395
- Ongoing fees
- $0.00
- Discharge Fee
- $0.00
- Extra repayments
- yes - free up to $20,000 p.a.
- Redraw facility
- no
- Offset account
- no
- Maximum loan to value ratio
- 80.00%
- minimum borrowing amount
- $100,000
- maximum borrowing amount
- $2,000,000
- type of mortgage
- Fixed
- Repayment types
- Principal & Interest
- Availability
- Owner Occupier
- Repayment options
- Weekly, Fortnightly, Monthly
- Special Offers
- $395 Establishment fee waived for fixed rate loans that settle by 31 March 2020. Receive 1.75% Receive 1.75% 3 year fixed rate when you apply by 26 February 2021 and settle within 90 days.
Read our Mozo Review to learn more about the UHomeLoan
Basic Home Loan
Fixed, Owner Occupier, Principal & Interest, LVR 70-80%
interest rate
comparison rate
Initial monthly repayment
2.19% p.a.
fixed 3 years2.53% p.a.Flexible loan structure – create up to six loan accounts with different rate and repayment types. Free redraw from your loan using Macquarie Online.
CompareCompareBasic Home Loan
Flexible loan structure – create up to six loan accounts with different rate and repayment types. Free redraw from your loan using Macquarie Online.
- interest rate
- 2.19% p.a.
fixed 3 years
- comparison rate
- 2.53% p.a.
- upfront fees
- $0
- Ongoing fees
- $0.00
- Discharge Fee
- $400.00
- Extra repayments
- yes - free
- Redraw facility
- yes - free
- Offset account
- no
- Maximum loan to value ratio
- 80.00%
- minimum borrowing amount
- $150,000
- maximum borrowing amount
- $750,000
- type of mortgage
- Fixed
- Repayment types
- Principal & Interest
- Availability
- Owner Occupier
- Repayment options
- Monthly
- Special Offers
- -
Read our Mozo Review to learn more about the Basic Home Loan
Fixed Home Loan Special Offer
Owner Occupier, Principal & Interest
interest rate
comparison rate
Initial monthly repayment
2.19% p.a.
fixed 3 years3.03% p.a.No monthly account keeping fees & No loan establishment fee. Get up to $3,000 cash bonus when you refinance with an eligible Suncorp Bank Home Loan. T&Cs & eligibility criteria apply.
CompareCompareFixed Home Loan Special Offer
No monthly account keeping fees & No loan establishment fee. Get up to $3,000 cash bonus when you refinance with an eligible Suncorp Bank Home Loan. T&Cs & eligibility criteria apply.
- interest rate
- 2.19% p.a.
fixed 3 years
- comparison rate
- 3.03% p.a.
- upfront fees
- $0
- Ongoing fees
- $375.00 yearly
- Discharge Fee
- $350.00
- Extra repayments
- yes - free up to $500 per month
- Redraw facility
- no
- Offset account
- no
- Maximum loan to value ratio
- 90.00%
- minimum borrowing amount
- $150,000
- maximum borrowing amount
- -
- type of mortgage
- Fixed
- Repayment types
- Principal & Interest
- Availability
- Owner Occupier
- Repayment options
- Weekly, Fortnightly, Monthly
- Special Offers
- -
Read our Mozo Review to learn more about the Fixed Home Loan Special Offer
Discount Fixed Rate
Owner Occupier, Principal & Interest, <80% LVR
interest rate
comparison rate
Initial monthly repayment
1.99% p.a.
fixed 4 years2.90% p.a.Have the certainty of fixed repayments with a competitive rate from BOQ. Flexible repayment options available and make up to $5,000 in additional repayments annually. $3,000 cashback when you refinance your home loan to BOQ (min. $250k lending, max 80% LVR, T&Cs apply).
CompareCompareDiscount Fixed Rate
Have the certainty of fixed repayments with a competitive rate from BOQ. Flexible repayment options available and make up to $5,000 in additional repayments annually. $3,000 cashback when you refinance your home loan to BOQ (min. $250k lending, max 80% LVR, T&Cs apply).
- interest rate
- 1.99% p.a.
fixed 4 years
- comparison rate
- 2.90% p.a.
- upfront fees
- $450
- Ongoing fees
- $10.00 monthly
- Discharge Fee
- $350.00
- Extra repayments
- yes - free up to $5,000 p.a
- Redraw facility
- no
- Offset account
- no
- Maximum loan to value ratio
- 80.00%
- minimum borrowing amount
- $150,000
- maximum borrowing amount
- -
- type of mortgage
- Fixed
- Repayment types
- Principal & Interest
- Availability
- Owner Occupier
- Repayment options
- Weekly, Fortnightly, Monthly
- Special Offers
- $3,000 cashback when you refinance your home loan to BOQ, min $250,000, 80% LVR or less. Apply before 26 February 2021, settle by 28 May 2021.
Read our Mozo Review to learn more about the Discount Fixed Rate
The limited time offer has a fixed rate of just 1.99% for 1, 2 and 3-year terms with comparison rates* of 2.78%, 2.71% and 2.64% respectively. Though it’s only available to Tasmanians.
Among other notable fixed rate changes:
- Homestar launched a super low 2-year fixed rate of 2.06% (2.49% comparison rate*) with its Star Essentials Fixed Home Loan
- NAB cut 10 basis points off a number of fixed loans meaning its most competitive rate is now 2.19% (4.02% comparison rate*) for 2 years.
- ING was one of the few lenders to increase, lifting fixed rates by 5 to 40 basis points. However, ING is still among the most competitive lenders with rates as low as 2.19% (3.79% comparison rate) for 2 years with its Fixed Rate Loan.
So what do fixed rates look like? Here are the five database-leading rates and our fixed rate averages as of July 1, 2020:
Term | Rate leader | Fixed rate | Average |
1-year | Bank of us | 1.99% (2.78% comparison rate*) | 2.61% |
2-year | Bank of us | 1.99% (2.71% comparison rate*) | 2.56% |
3-year | Bank of us | 1.99% (2.64% comparison rate*) | 2.63% |
4-year | HSBC | 2.40% (3.13% comparison rate*) | 2.99% |
5-year | RACQ | 2.49% (3.76% comparison rate*) | 2.98% |
Online lenders drive variable rates down
Lenders have also continued to drop their variable home loan rates recently, though less dramatically. As of today the average variable rate in the Mozo database for owner occupier loans sits at 3.42% - a slight decrease on the June 1 average of 3.43%.
The big story of the month came from online lender Reduce Home Loans which cemented its spot as the variable rate leader in our database with the introduction of its Super Saver Variable home loan with a rate of just 2.19% (2.19% comparison rate*).
To put the Super Saver Variable rate into perspective, it’s currently 20 basis points below its nearest competitors and a considerable 123 basis points below the our average.
In other notable variable rate changes:
- Fellow online lender Freedomlend trimmed 10 basis points off its Variable Home Loan taking it to 2.39% (2.39% comparison rate*) and among the five lowest variable lenders in our database.
- ING cut 19 basis points off its Orange Advantage (Package) loan to 2.64% (2.98% comparison rate*) which makes it one of the lowest packaged offers on the market.
- NAB took 15 basis points off its Base Variable Home Loans Special, which now sits at 2.69% (2.69% comparison rate*). That’s the lowest of the comparable big four offers.
The outlook ahead
So with a host of recent changes, including two new market leading offers, can we expect mortgage rates to continue their decline in July?
According to Mozo Banking Expert, Peter Marshall, competition among lenders will remain fierce, with some extra sweeteners likely to be thrown at borrowers - particularly those looking to refinance.
“I think there's going to continue to be a lot of competition out there, but it seems to me that rates are probably very close to as low as lenders would want to take them,” he said.
“So I think we're more likely to see things such as cash back offers. So one-off bonuses to attract people's business rather than direct rate discounting. Having said that, sure there will be the occasional lender who will put a new rate out there but I don't think it'll be widespread.”
RELATED: Bank of Us and Homestar take fixed mortgage rates to new lows
All this rate talk left you itching to refinance your own mortgage or compare even more offers? Get started with some of the hottest rates around in the table below, or check out the Mozo home loans comparison tables for the latest rates from over 80 different lenders
^See information about the Mozo Experts Choice Home Loans Awards
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