Home loan news and advice

With a 1.99% p.a. variable interest rate (1.99% p.a. comparison rate*), no fees and a reputation for being among the first lenders to pass RBA rate cuts onto customers, online Aussie lender Athena is rewriting home loan history.

In case you missed the news, home loan rates have gone off a cliff in the past two years in the wake of six Reserve Bank interest rate cuts, including one last November. And now that the dust has settled, Aussie homeowners have a real opportunity in 2021 to take advantage of some of the lowest rates on record.Borrowers looking for the sharpest rates will need to look beyond the big banks though. Rival lenders have taken the spotlight: not only dishing up super low variable and fixed rates, but also new features and extra incentives.It’s little wonder that rival lenders are seeing a spike in customers switching their home loans from the major banks, with some genuinely big savings now available for those who are prepared to shop around.So, if you're sick of paying more than you need to on your home loan, you’ll want to get acquainted with these killer lenders taking on the big banks in 2021.

Being at an auction in many capitals right now can feel like a poorly run game of musical chairs. Most players will leave empty-handed and quite possibly bruised.This is what happens when people want and need homes, but for whatever reason, the rules of the game favour just a few at the party.Some numbers can help explain how this all works, not least of which are figures showing us what's available.For example, residential property listings around the country dropped in May of this year by 6% to 245,953, down from 262,617 in April, according to SQM Research. That's more than 15,000 fewer properties available to buyers, at a time when there are clearly many people who want a seat in the game.And in a city like Sydney, which garners most of the property headlines, there was a notable drop this May in the number of homes advertised for at least 180 days (4,248), compared to May of 2020 (6,589). SQM says this represents a 36% fall.Are there any new ads for homes going up then?

$8.29 trillion - it’s a barely conceivable figure, but according to quarterly figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) yesterday, that number represents the new total value of residential dwellings in Australia.

First home buyers would be able to access grants of up to $25,000 from the state government to assist them with property purchases under a new initiative outlined by New South Wales Treasury.

Aussies looking to save money on their home loan are in for some good news this month. While the big banks have begun to increase some of their fixed rates, the nation's challenger lenders are tempting bargain hunting borrowers with a bunch of jaw-dropping fixed rate home offers.

There is an easy way to potentially save thousands on your home loan, but surprisingly, most Aussies ignore it. Four in five borrowers take out a home loan with a Big 4 bank, instead of shopping around for cheaper loan. This mistake is costing us big time.

The past year has seen regional home values grow twice as fast as capital cities, as more and more Australians sought for a sea or tree change, according to CoreLogic. But new figures suggest there may be affordable pockets of Sydney that are even more promising for property investors. According to property developer ALAND, the Greater Western Sydney market could be very profitable for investors, with rental gross yields potentially as high as 4.7% at its Schofield Gardens development in Schofields. For context, rental gross yield refers to your annual rent income divided by the purchase price, so it’s a way to figure out how likely the property will generate a positive cashflow. ALAND said investor returns were lower in popular regional hotspots such as Wollongong, Newcastle and Central Coast. Here are their estimates of rental gross yields in these areas, drawing on data from My Housing Market:

As the property market sizzles and rival lenders slash rates in some of the fiercest mortgage competition we’ve seen in years, borrowers are flocking to comparison sites to hunt out bargain home loan deals.

Hot off the press: Top lenders loans.com.au, Macquarie and Athena have just dropped brand new refinance deals - each of which offers killer variable rates in return for a generous deposit or equity on your property.