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Australia\u2019s home loan market has hit a record $2.48 trillion, despite borrowers facing higher interest rates and shrinking fixed-rate options.<\/p>\n
Australians are piling into a record $2.48 trillion mortgage mountain despite back-to-back interest rate hikes, amid fears could leave them locked out of the home dream.<\/p>\n
New banking figures prepared by Canstar from Australian Prudential Regulation Authority data show borrowers added another $14.3bn in home loans in a single month, even as National Australia Bank moved to increase short-term fixed rates.<\/p>\n
NAB lifted its one-year and two-year fixed rates by 0.15 percentage points, taking its lowest one-year fixed rate to 6.49 per cent and its lowest two-year fixed rate to 6.54 per cent on Friday. The Block \u2018conwoman\u2019 cops $1m blow<\/a><\/p>\n Exposed: Diggers slugged $100k \u2018tax on service\u2019 for home loans<\/a><\/p>\n Canstar rate tracking shows only three lenders now offer at least one fixed rate below 6 per cent, compared with 83 at the start of the year.<\/p>\n Investor lending is also growing faster than owner-occupier debt, with their mortgage balances rising 8.9 per cent over the year compared with 6.1 per cent growth for owner-occupiers.<\/p>\n A 0.25 percentage point rate rise from 6 per cent to 6.25 per cent would add about $97 a month to repayments on a $600,000 loan, $129 a month on an $800,000 loan and $162 a month on a $1m loan.<\/p>\n Canstar data insights director Sally Tindall says fixed rates are often a window into what banks think is coming next.<\/p>\n Port Melbourne buyers are weighing up higher repayments as Australians continue taking on record levels of mortgage debt. Picture: Jake Nowakowski.<\/p>\n Canstar data insights director Sally Tindall said NAB\u2019s fixed-rate increases suggested lenders were not convinced the rate hiking cycle was finished.<\/p>\n \u201cFixed rates are often a window into what banks think is coming next,\u201d Ms Tindall said.<\/p>\n \u201cNAB\u2019s decision to lift its short-term fixed rates suggests it\u2019s not ready to rule out further rate rises, even though the RBA will almost certainly hit pause next month.<\/p>\n \u201cCompetitive fixed rates are fast becoming a thing of the past.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the start of the year there were 83 lenders offering at least one fixed rate under 6 per cent. Now there are just three.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms Tindall said borrowers hoping for relief could be waiting longer than expected, with rates likely to remain high and potentially move \u201cone or two notches\u201d.<\/p>\n Frame Finance director Imogen Alexy says higher-rate periods can create a buying window for borrowers who can still afford repayments.<\/p>\n Frame Finance director Imogen Alexy said many buyers who could still afford to purchase were viewing the higher-rate environment as a chance to enter the market with less competition.<\/p>\n \u201cIt definitely deters some customers and it definitely affects people\u2019s budgets, but if they can still afford to purchase, a lot of people are willing to take that opportunity,\u201d Ms Alexy said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey understand they will probably be buying in a less competitive market than they would be if interest rates were lower.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms Alexy said borrowers were not blindly taking the maximum amount banks would lend them, with more buyers weighing up whether repayments would fit their lifestyle if rates rose again.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a big difference between what a bank is willing to lend you and what repayment actually fits your lifestyle,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they want to go out on weekends, have fun, travel or maintain a certain lifestyle, then the repayment needs to fit around that.<\/p>\n \u201cOtherwise, they can end up feeling the strain pretty quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n Whitefox Advocacy buyer\u2019s advocate Nicholas Morrison says inflation and tax uncertainty are changing how buyers approach investment and lifestyle properties.<\/p>\n Whitefox Advocacy buyer\u2019s advocate Nicholas Morrison said inflation and tax uncertainty had also changed the rules for Melbourne property buyers, particularly those considering investment properties, beach houses and other lifestyle purchases.<\/p>\n Mr Morrison said higher holding costs were also creating tension around some long-held family holiday homes.<\/p>\n \u201cIf one family member or family group is using that property more than the others, it\u2019s creating friction in the families and therefore they\u2019re offloading those assets,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here <\/a>to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox.<\/p>\n MORE: Portelli\u2019s $99 wild grocery gamble shocks shoppers david.bonaddio@news.com.au<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s home loan market has hit a record $2.48 trillion, despite borrowers facing higher interest rates and shrinking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,63,99,164],"class_list":["post-709624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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