Only 33 of the 96 mortgage lenders on comparison site Mozo’s database cut their variable home loan rates last month, after the Reserve Bank cut the cash rate target by 15 basis points. And only 15 lenders passed on 15 bps or more to borrowers on variable rates.
The 15 were Athena, Freedomlend (20 bps), Goulburn Murray Credit Union, BNK Bank, homeloans.com.au, Homestar, ME, Move Bank, MyState Bank, Pacific Mortgage Group (16 bps), Qudos Bank (34 bps), Reduce Home Loans, Resi, South West Slopes Credit Union, UBank and Yellow Brick Road.
Last month, the RBA cut the cash rate target from 25 bps to 10 bps, the three-year government bond yield target from 25 bps to 10 bps, the term funding facility rate from 25 bps to 10 bps and the interest rate on exchange settlement balances from 10 bps to zero.
Yesterday, the RBA announced that it was “maintaining the current policy settings”.
The average variable rate for owner occupiers fell 3 bps to 3.31 per cent in November. The lowest variable rate is 1.99 per cent, which Reduce Home Loans is offering. The lowest investor variable rate is Tic:Toc’s 2.33 per cent.
There was much more action in the fixed rate segment. Greater Bank, Hume Bank, RACQ Bank and Tic:Toc are all offering 1.89 per cent for one year fixed.
RACQ Bank, Suncorp Bank and Tic:Toc are offering 1.89 per cent for two years. QBank and RACQ Bank are offering 1.89 per cent for three years.
Bank of Melbourne and St George are offering 1.94 per cent for four years and Aussie and Newcastle Permanent are offering 1.99 per cent for five years.
The big banks all left their variable rates unchanged (Westpac cut its variable rate for borrowers with loan to valuation ratios under 70 per cent) but made cuts – big ones in some cases - to fixed rates.