Some of the top-rated home loans in January 2024

Even if you’re still in holiday mode following the Christmas and New Year break, it may be worth keeping a close eye on Australia’s mortgage market. With the chance that interest rates could start falling later in the year, getting your finances organised could help to put you in a better position for when the time is right.

The first meeting of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) board is scheduled to take place in February. This is also to be the first in a new calendar of eight meetings per year, or two meetings per quarter. 

Some economists are forecasting that the RBA could raise the cash rate again at this February meeting. However, others point to lower-than-expected monthly inflation figures recently released from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) as evidence that the RBA may keep the cash rate on hold instead.

While it’s possible the RBA may choose to lower the national cash rate in the second half of 2024, provided inflation falls towards the target band in line with its own forecasts, that’s no guarantee every lender will pass this cut on to their home loan customers. Banks and mortgage lenders may choose to lower or raise their interest rates out of cycle with the RBA, which is why it’s important to compare home loans before borrowing or refinancing.

As well as comparing home loans from the major banks, you may also want to consider some of their smaller competitors, including non-bank lenders and online fintechs. In some cases, these alternative lenders can offer competitive home loan deals to eligible customers in the right financial situation.

To help make your home loan comparison faster and simpler, RateCity’s Real Time Ratings™ combine each loan’s cost and flexibility into a single simple star rating. Because these ratings are updated regularly, they can give you a clear idea of each mortgage offer’s overall value.

Some of the top-rated home loan offers in different categories can be found on RateCity’s Home Loan Leaderboards with some of these top-ranked offers also becoming eligible for the RateCity Gold Awards.

(Rankings are correct at the time of publishing. Please note lenders may trade places on the list as interest rates and fees change and RateCity’s tracker reflects these movements.)

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