News Australia

The Reserve Bank of Australia board has cut the official interest rate by 25 basis points to 4.25 per cent, giving mortgage holders and borrowers a pre-Christmas reprieve. The RBA announced the rate cut at 2.30pm AEDT today following the board’s final meeting for the year. It’s the second interest rate cut in as many [...]

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has spared borrowers an interest rate rise, leaving the cash rate at 4.75 percent in a widely expected move. The Reserve Bank last increased the overnight cash rate in November 2010 to 4.75 percent from 4.5 percent and most economists still expect a rate rise this year. “We expect [...]

Ongoing discount rate loans still leading the pack The popularity of fixed interest rate home loans hit its highest level in five months in June 2011, reaching 12.3% of all approvals for Australia’s largest independently-owned mortgage broker, Mortgage Choice. Every state apart from SA saw a rise in appetite for fixed rate loans. The largest [...]

A threat by the Coalition to overturn the Gillard government’s ban on bank mortgage exit fees has prompted an angry response from consumer group Choice. The ban is due to take effect from July 1, but can still be reversed by a majority vote in federal Parliament. The Coalition would need the votes of two [...]

Click on the link to watch MFAA CEO Phil Naylor talking about mortgage exit fees on Channel 9 in Sydney

The mortgage industry’s peak association has warned borrowers that the major banks’ dominance in the home loan sector will eventually drive rates up. According to the MFAA, recent ABS figures confirm that smaller lenders are losing ground to the big banks. Australia’s banks wrote 90.2% of all new loans in February – the highest rate [...]

85 per cent of senior executives of mortgage managers and aggregators in the mortgage industry expect their lending volumes and their competitive position will be cut if new financial regulations banning mortgage exit fees come into effect from July 1, 2011. 55 per cent of the managers and aggregators in the survey, commissioned by the [...]

85 per cent of senior executives of mortgage managers and aggregators in the mortgage industry expect their lending volumes and their competitive position will be cut if new financial regulations banning mortgage exit fees come into effect from July 1, 2011. 55 per cent of the managers and aggregators in the survey, commissioned by the [...]

THE executive chairman of home lender Aussie, John Symond, has warned the government’s proposed ban on exit fees could force out smaller lenders and lead to a fresh wave of consolidation. There are also warnings that the move could unwind the reforms from the 1983 deregulation of the financial system. Mr Symond has written to [...]

No one doubts the strength of the government’s advice as it moves towards its July start date for new financial regulations which will ban the use of exit fees in Australian mortgages. However, the direct popular appeal to the public of banning exit fees – even though to do so reduces competition in the mortgage [...]