API Blog :: Have your say!

Have mortgage holders missed the boat?

BY KRISTY SHEPPARD

This week is the second successive week in which our lender panel’s average interest rate for three-year fixed-term home loans – the most popular with borrowers – has risen. This increase totals only 0.05 percentage points but still may indicate rock bottom has already passed.

These rises come after 14 consecutive weeks of falls totalling 0.46 percentage points.

In comparison, the basic and standard variable rate averages for our panel have budged only 0.02 of a percentage point either way in the past four months. Read more →

Anyone looking to invest in the residential housing market for the first or subsequent time should go back to basics before applying for a home loan. Making the leap is an effort no matter how much experience you have, so below are some tips on how to make sure you’re well prepared and doing everything possible to achieve the best possible outcome.

By KRISTY SHEPPARD

I’m sure you’ve heard a lot of talk about the lending criteria screws being noticeably tighter since the global financial crisis, to the point where a significant percentage of Australians who would have been approved for a home loan previously are now being turned away.

In fact, I was talking to a real estate agent the other day who had been with his lender for 12 years while expanding his property portfolio. He’d never had issues, late payments or defaults, yet has just been knocked back for extra finance that he was sure would be approved. Read more →