Some of the best home loans for investors and refinancers in August 2022

Refinancing has been accelerating in recent months, with many mortgage holders looking to switch to more affordable home loans following multiple months of rate hikes. While low-rate home loans are becoming much harder to find, there are still options available that could offer a great deal of value to the right borrower.

While finding a low-interest home loan may no longer be as easy as it used to be, the interest rate on a mortgage may not tell the whole story. The fees, features and other benefits can all also affect the overall value that a mortgage deal may offer borrowers in different financial situations, whether they’re refinancing their family home or investing in property.

RateCity’s Real Time Ratings™ break down the cost and flexibility of different home loan deals, and combine them into a single simple star rating. These ratings are used to build RateCity’s Home Loan Leaderboards, which rank mortgage deals for different borrower types by their Real Time Ratings™. Home loans that rank the highest for longest may also become eligible for RateCity’s Gold awards.

Some of the best refinance home loans

While home loans for refinancers are more likely to offer lower interest rates than some other home loan deals, they’re also more likely to have stricter eligibility requirements, especially around the Loan to Value Ratio (LVR). You’ll likely need to hold at least 20 per cent equity in your property to refinance without having to pay Lender’s Mortgage Insurance (LMI), and may need 30 or 40 per cent equity to qualify for some of the deals offering the lowest rates and/or the most flexible features.

Some of the best investor variable home loans 

Investors hoping to lock in a low fixed interest rate may be in for a challenge, but if you’re willing to accept a variable home loan you may be able to start out on a lower rate. You may also be able to benefit from the flexibility offered by features such as an offset account or a redraw facility, which offer options for managing your repayments.

Some of the best 2 year interest only investor home loans

While locking in a low fixed rate for a long time may no longer be possible for most investors, another option could be to make fixed interest only repayments for two years or so. This could allow an investor to minimise what they pay in the short term and keep their options open for the longer term. Of course, not paying down the loan principal may mean it will take longer to pay off the property, and you could end up paying more interest in total over the long term.  

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