Some of the best home loans in September 2022

Home loan interest rates are likely to keep rising across the board, with the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) hiking the national cash rate by 50 basis points at its meeting today. But that doesn’t mean lenders aren’t being competitive, with several actually slashing rates or offering cashback deals for eligible borrowers.

The 50 point rate hike brings the cash rate to 2.35 per cent; the highest rate since the beginning of 2023. Based on RateCity research, the average Australian home owner on a variable interest rate could see their principal and interest repayments increase by as much as $144 if their bank or mortgage lender passes this hike on in full. If you also include the previous hikes between May and August 2022, this could mean paying an extra $614 per month.

Economists from the major banks are forecasting that the cash rate could rise as high as 3.10 per cent by Christmas this year, and peak at 3.35 next year. This could mean that first home buyers and other owner occupiers may be in for a tough time when it comes to their household budgets.

To help you get a better idea of the value of various home loan offers, and not just their cost, you could look at RateCity’s Home Loan Leaderboards, which rank mortgage deals in different categories based on their Real Time Ratings™, which combine the cost and flexibility of each home loan into a simple star rating.

(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.)

Some of the best packaged home loans

Borrowers who are willing to not only switch home loans, but switch banks altogether, may appreciate the value offered by some home loan package deals. These offers bundle a mortgage with other financial products and services, such as a transactions account and/or a credit card. It may also be worth also comparing all of the products on offer to check if other options could better suit your needs.

Some of the best home loans from large banks

While Australia’s largest banks may not always offer interest rates that are as competitive as those of smaller lenders, they may be able to offer value elsewhere for the right borrower. For example, some of Australia’s major banks are offering cashback deals to new customers, though most of these offers are only available to refinancers rather than first home buyers. 

Some of the best home loans for over $1 million

While rising interest rates may be partly responsible for property prices starting to fall in some parts of Australia, you may still need to borrow a million dollars or more to make a property purchase in your preferred area. Bigger loans like these may feel the effects of future interest rate rises more strongly, so it’s important to compare the available options to get an idea of the value of the offer before signing on the dotted line.

Compare home loans in Australia