Westpac hikes rates on fixed home loans
Westpac has become the latest lender to lift interest rates on a number of its fixed home loans after announcing a 10 basis point increase yesterday.
The major bank raised the fixed rates on offer to owner occupiers with its Fixed Options Home Loan and Fixed Options Home Loan (Premier Advantage Package) products, with the changes applying across 2-5 year terms.
As a result of the changes, the lowest fixed rates on offer from Westpac for owner occupier borrowers (70-95% LVR) are now as follow:
- 1-year: 2.09% p.a. (3.59% p.a. comparison rate*) with the Fixed Options (Package)
- 2-year: 2.09% p.a. (3.50% p.a. comparison rate*) with the Fixed Options (Package)
- 3-year: 2.18% p.a. (3.42% p.a. comparison rate*) with the Fixed Options (Package)
- 4-year: 2.69% p.a. (3.51% p.a. comparison rate*) with the Fixed Options (Package)
- 5-year: 2.99% p.a. (3.58% p.a. comparison rate*) with the Fixed Options (Package)
The latest move comes off the back of two other fixed rate increases in recent months. Westpac lifted rates on its 2 and 3-year fixed terms for owner occupiers in June, and it did the same on its 4 and 5-year fixed rates in August.
On the other hand, the bank made headlines in August after cutting 20bp off the variable rate on its Flexi First Option loan which, at the time, was the lowest variable rate on offer from one of the big four.
Speaking of the major banks, here’s a look at how Westpac’s Fixed Options (Package, 70-95% LVR) stacks up against comparable fixed rate loans currently on offer from ANZ, Commonwealth Bank and NAB.
Big four fixed packaged home loan rates (1, 3 and 5-year terms) - October 20, 2021
| 1-year | 2-year | 3-year | |
| ANZ - Fixed Rate (Package) | 2.04% (3.33% comparison rate*) | 2.04% (3.18% comparison rate*) | 2.69% (3.33% comparison rate*) |
| CBA - Fixed Rate Home Loan (Package) | 1.99% (4.10% comparison rate*) | 2.29% (3.87% comparison rate*) | 2.99% (3.93% comparison rate*) |
| NAB - Tailored Home Loan (Package) | 2.09% (3.94% comparison rate*) | 2.18% (3.70% comparison rate*) | 2.73% (3.67% comparison rate*) |
| Westpac - Fixed Options Home Loan (Package) | 2.09% (3.59% comparison rate*) | 2.18% (3.42% comparison rate*) | 2.99% (3.58% comparison rate*) |
Westpac is hardly alone in lifting its fixed home loan rates though - plenty of lenders have upped their rates in recent months.
For instance, an analysis of home loans tracked in the Mozo database revealed that, since the start of September, there have been 387 rate increases compared to 122 cuts from 32 different lenders (across 1-5 year terms).
Despite the recent increases, fixed mortgage rates still remain at some of the lowest points they’ve been in years though. In fact, as our fixed rate averages show, shorter term fixed rates (1, 2 and 3 years) are about as low as they’ve been since at least 2015.
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Considering locking in your home loan rate to provide some repayment certainty over the short term? To cast your eyes over a range of options from different mortgage lenders, head on over to our home loan comparison tables, or get comparing right away with some of the great fixed offers in the table below.