By
All four major banks have now cut home loan rates following the Reserve Bank’s decision to trim the cash rate to 1.5%, whilst one non-major has passed the rate cut on in full.
NAB has reduced its standard variable rate (SVR) to the lowest it has been for more than 40 years, cutting it by 10 basis points to 5.25%, effective Friday 19 August.
NAB chief operating officer, Antony Cahill, said NAB had carefully considered the needs of customers and shareholders and the current economic and regulatory environment in making the decision to not pass the 0.25% cash rate cut on in full.
“We have had to strike the right balance between providing customers with competitive mortgage rates and continuing to generate attractive returns for our 584,000 shareholders, while recognising that NAB’s funding costs have been steadily increasing due to a range of factors, including the need to strengthen our balance sheet,” Cahill said.
NAB will also reduce its rate for standard variable business rate lending products by 10 basis points, effective from Friday 19 August.
ANZ has also announced decreased home loan rates to a new historic low. Effective Friday 12 August, the lender announced its SVR will decrease by 12 basis points, bringing its owner occupier home loan to 5.25% and its investor home loan to 5.52%.
All business lending variable rate indices will decrease by 10 basis points.
Westpac has reduced its home loan rates by the most of the majors, dropping its SVR by 14 basis points.
This announcement brings Westpac’s owner occupier rate to 5.29% and its investment property loan rate to 5.56%.
Variable cash rate business loans will be reduced by 10 basis points.
Finally, non-major lender Bank of Sydney passed on the 0.25% cash rate cut on in full, decreasing its owner occupier variable rate by 25 basis points.
“This means that the current ‘Broker Special’ variable rate is down to an historic low of 3.54%.” Bank of Sydney’s head of third party distribution, Steve Sampson said.
“Providing that the LVR doesn’t exceed 80%, borrowers are in PAYG employment and property is located in Metro postcodes this loan is available for both purchase and refinance. This has been a total reduction of 34 bps in the last month.”
For owner occupied borrowers that don’t meet the Broker Special criteria the Expect More Home Loan rate has been reduced to 3.63%.
Yesterday, CBA was the first bank to respond to the RBA’s rate cut, dropping its standard variable rate mortgages by 13 basis points.
