Newcastle Permanent reduces its investor fixed interest rates

Friday 29 January 2016

Article by Rebeccah Elley

Last year we saw many home loan lenders increase interest rates for investor borrowers - including the four major banks CommBank, Westpac, ANZ and NAB and a range of other lenders like St.George, UBank and Bankwest - to meet requirements by APRA of a maximum investor portfolio growth of 10% per annum.

Now customer owned bank Newcastle Permanent has dropped its fixed rates for investors to the same level as what is offered to owner occupier borrowers.

This brings Newcastle Permanent’s fixed interest rate for both investors and owner occupiers to 3.79% (5.01% comparison rate) for 1 year, 3.89% (4.91% comparison rate) for 2 years, 3.99% (4.84% comparison rate) for 3 years, 4.29% (4.86% comparison rate) for 4 years and 4.49% (4.88% comparison rate) for 5 years. However, keep in mind after the fixed interest rate term comes to an end, the fixed interest rate reverts to a variable rate of 5.10%.

“For ourselves over 2015 we had very carefully managed our investor portfolio growth and didn’t exceed APRA’s 10% guideline,” Newcastle Permanent CEO Terry Millett told The Adviser.

“We’ve taken the opportunity now given the level of growth in our investor portfolio at the moment and given the level of demand in the market for investor-purpose home lending to remove that measure.”

According to The Adviser, slashing its fixed interest rate for investors to bring it on par with owner occupier fixed rates, will also make the process easier for bank staff and brokers.

To find out more about the fixed rate home loan from Newcastle Permanent, read our review here or to compare home loan deals check out our comparison table below.