Award-winning home loans, auctions, investor confidence: This week’s best banking news

• The 2021 Mozo Experts Choice Award for Home Loans winners revealed! 
• Auction clearance rates continue to increase 
• More property investors jumping into the market 
• APRA to assess climate vulnerability of major banks
• Queensland says hello to Australia’s first community owned energy provider 
• CommBank drops Buy Now Pay Later product 
  

All in this week’s best banking recap: editor’s pick. 

2021 Mozo Experts Choice Awards: this year’s best home loans 

No matter if it's your first home loan, or you’re looking to refinance - why not choose an award-winning option? 

That’s where the 2021 Mozo Experts Choice Home Loan Awards for Home Loans can help! This year, our expert judges compared over 500 mortgage products from 99 lenders. 

“Monthly mortgage repayments are usually the biggest household expense, so making sure that you’ve got a good deal can potentially save you thousands of dollars over the life of your home loan,” said Mozo Expert Peter Marshall.

Some notable wins included: 

• Home Loan Lender of the Year: ING 
  Online Home Loan Lender of the Year: Tic:Toc 
  Home Loan Innovation: Athena 
  Green Home Loan: Bank Australia 
  

Read full article: Winners announced in the 2021 Mozo Experts Choice Awards for Home Loans for a closer look at this year’s winners. 

Capital city auction clearances rates continue to rise 

Aussie capital cities have seen a growing amount of auction clearance rates and this week is no exception. 

In Sydney, almost 90% of properties up for auction were sold, indicated by Domain’s preliminary data. Similarly, Adelaide saw a 90% clearance rate, while Canberra experienced 94%. 

“Adelaide and Canberra are doing really well this year because they haven’t been as affected by COVID and they’re also not so reliant on international students,” Mozo’s property expert, Steve Jovcevski explained. 

“The other reason is that a lot of investors from Sydney and Melbourne have started to look interstate because they want value for money and want to take advantage of capital growth.”

Read full article: Auction market boom: Clearance rates on track to six-year high for some hot tips for bidding at auction. 

Investors come back to the property market

While the COVID-19 pandemic saw many investors withdrawing from the market in 2020, 2021 could be the year they return. 

In fact, fresh numbers from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that investor loans increased by 9.4% in January.

The stats showed that the average investor loan was the highest in NSW ($658,900), followed by Victoria ($537,388), Queensland ($441,037) and Western Australia ($411,649). 

Read full article: Investor confidence returns to property market to see what chief economist at Archistar, Andrew Wilson said about the numbers.

Climate vulnerability in 2021: APRA to assess major banks

This year, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) will be assessing the climate vulnerability of Australia’s big banks. 

As part of APRA’s new cross-industry prudential practice guide (PPG) which aims to manage climate-related financial risk, the body will assess how vulnerable banks are to physical and transition risks that could come with climate change.  

The assessments will start with Australia’s five major banks and then roll out throughout the banking sector. APRA hopes to have the results of the first round of reviews by the end of 2021. 

Queensland welcomes Enova, Australia’s first community owned energy provider

First rolled out all over New South Wales after protests against coal seam gas fracking, Australia’s first community owned energy provider Enova has expanded to Queensland. 

The provider has almost 10,000 customers and is looking to snag a few more up north.  

“Our offering is unique in South East Queensland as we were established specifically to support communities to work toward becoming energy self-sufficient,” chief executive Felicity Stening says. 

According to Stening, Enova is opening the doors for towns and suburbs to generate, store and share renewable energy. Thus, deterring people from coal-fired power which is delivered over a long distance and via expensive powerlines. 

Read full article: Australia's first community owned energy provider expands to QLD for more of a rundown on what Enova has to offer. 

Buy Now Pay Later: CommBank launches a new instalments product 

It’s official, CommBank has entered the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) market as the first major bank to enter the space. 

For transactions above $100, the BNPL product means that customers can split their purchases into four equal fortnightly instalments. Plus, customers must link their CommBank bank account to access the service. 

Other features include no ongoing fees, no foreign exchange charges and accepted wherever credit and debit cards are. Just bear in mind, there is a $1,000 account limit and $10 late payment fee for a missed instalment.   

Read full article: CommBank launches Buy Now Pay Later product: how it stacks up to see what CommBank group executive, retail banking services, Angus Sullivan says about this exciting new venture. 

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