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Home Loans Articles

Learn more about how to manage your personal finances with RateCity's home loan articles, including how-to-guides on comparing home loan interest rates, fees, features and other benefits.

Mark Bristow

Personal Finance Editor

Will US rate rises affect Australia?

Last night’s meeting of the US Federal Reserve increased America’s benchmark interest rate from 0.75% to 1%. Leading up to this widely-forecast increase, finance industry experts predicted that rising US interest rates may influence Australia and other countries where lenders could struggle with increased overseas funding costs, and raise their own interest rates to compensate.

Home Loans

16 Mar, 2017

2 min read

Alex Ritchie

Personal Finance Editor

Can you afford a mortgage?

For many Australians, buying your own home is something you dream about (while indulging in a smashed avocado brunch), but is it an unobtainable dream?

Home Loans

07 Mar, 2017

4 min read

Alex Ritchie

Personal Finance Editor

Renting vs. buying, what should you choose?

Choosing between renting or buying property can be a daunting process.

Home Loans

20 Feb, 2017

4 min read

Renting vs. buying, what should you choose?

Alex Ritchie

Personal Finance Editor

New investor loans blocked by big lenders

One of Australia’s biggest lenders has made sweeping changes to its investor lending policies, RateCity understands.

Home Loans

09 Feb, 2017

3 min read

New investor loans blocked by big lenders

Peter Arnold

Rates of the Nation Report, January 2017

The Rates of the Nation report is an historical analysis of interest rates in the home loans, credit cards and deposits space for the last quarter.

Home Loans

12 Jan, 2017

4 min read

Rates of the Nation Report, January 2017

Mark Bristow

Personal Finance Editor

How to find your interest rate

Pop quiz, hotshot – what interest rate are you currently paying on your home loan? Could you name it off the top of your head?

Home Loans

09 Jan, 2017

6 min read

Mark Bristow

Personal Finance Editor

How to find the value of your property

It’s romantic to measure what a home is worth in terms of love, memories, or similarly sentimental metrics. Unfortunately, banks and other mortgage lenders aren’t renowned for their sense of whimsy, and prefer to measure the worth of properties in dollar values.

Home Loans

09 Jan, 2017

10 min read

Patricia Babalis

What is the refinancing Fast Track process?

In your refinancing research, you may have come across terms like Fast Track refinancing or FastRefi. These refer to a specific type of refinancing offered by some lenders, that allows the borrower to get their new loan settled in as little as three days if no physical property valuation is required.

Home Loans

05 Jan, 2017

3 min read

What is the refinancing Fast Track process?

Mark Bristow

Personal Finance Editor

What are home loan break costs?

If you have a fixed rate home loan and you are still in the fixed period, you may incur additional charges if you refinance or sell your property and exit from your loan. These charges for breaking the fixed rate home loan contract are called break costs.

Home Loans

03 Jan, 2017

4 min read

RateCity

Home Loans Guide, Step 7 of 7, Fees & Charges

Home Loan Deposit - Step by Step guide 7 with Laine Lister - the ins and outs of mortgage fees and charges.

Home Loans

03 Jan, 2017

4 min read

Home Loans Guide - Step 7 of 7 - Fees & Charges

RateCity

Six ways to make your home environmentally friendly

Climate change is tipped to bring a raft of changes with it, but nowhere will it be more prominent than in the housing patterns of Australians. Fortunately, lenders are starting to get on board and help borrowers to be environmentally responsible.

Home Loans

14 Dec, 2016

3 min read

Six ways to make your home environmentally friendly

Patricia Babalis

How to best use a mortgage calculator

If you’ve started to look into getting a home loan, or refinancing your current loan, then you would have undoubtedly come across a mortgage calculator in your search. These nifty tools can be invaluable in helping you to visualise how a mortgage would fit into your current budget and whether or not you can afford the repayments comfortably.

Home Loans

13 Dec, 2016

5 min read