When purchasing a property, refinancing or just renegotiating with your current lender, borrowers can generally decide between fixed-interest loans that maintain the same interest rate over a specific period of time, or variable-rate loans that charge interest according to market rate fluctuations. With interest rates at an all-time low, and many lender’s fixed rates significantly lower than their variable options, refinancing to a fixed rate is a very attractive option at the moment. While none of us know what the future holds, we can look at the facts and make an educated decision. Here are the ins and outs of fixed-rate loans.
Breaking news – October interest rate announcement
For the 3rd time in five months the Reserve Bank of Australia has decided to reduce the official cash rate, this time to 0.75%, in a concentrated effort to boost the economy.
Breaking news – September interest rate announcement
The RBA has decided to leave the official cash rate unchanged at 1% as it continues to assess the impact of its June and July cuts. In making this decision not to drop rates again the RBA will have considered emerging evidence of an improving housing market, supported by strong auction clearance rates in Sydney and Melbourne.
Breaking news – August interest rate announcement
The Reserve Bank of Australia has decided to leave the official cash rate unchanged at 1% as it awaits fresh economic data to allow it to assess the impact of its June and July cuts.
Breaking News – August interest rate update
The Reserve Bank of Australia made their announcement today to leave the official cash rate unchanged at 1.5%. It has now been two years since the last cash rate move. We think this is due to a combination of factors including very low wages growth, high underemployment, flattening property prices and home lending and modest inflation. Many experts are predicting it may be some time before we see the next rate movement and it may actually be downwards.