November home loan snapshot: RBA rate hike looms over Melbourne Cup.

Key Points

• If the RBA hikes in November, home loan interest rates will rise again.
• Lenders have been making a mixed bag of hikes and cuts.
• Fixed interest rates on home loans have started to climb.

Economists are placing bets for Cup Day, and odds are home loans may have a shock in November. Inflation and the weather have started to warm again headed into summer, so now there’s a greater than none chance the Reserve Bank of Australia will hike the cash rate another 25 basis points to 4.35% – another decade high.

The last few months have been relatively quiet for home loans , though lenders have made a mixed bag of small increases and decreases depending on the mortgage. It’s been good news for buyers during spring property season , who’ve had more choice than usual and a calmer interest rate environment to buy in. Even the average variable rate for owner-occupiers in Mozo’s database hasn’t shifted more than 1 basis point in three months, hovering around 6.61% p.a.

However, with inflation proving stickier than usual, the RBA may want to move interest rates again in November rather than wait for December – and risk angering Aussies before Christmas. Indeed, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, and ANZ have changed their minds about when we’ll hit the peak of the rate cycle. Essentially: brace for a rate hike sooner rather than later.

So what do home buyers need to know? Let’s get into your November home loan snapshot.

Head to our RBA rate tracker for more information on how RBA decisions affect home loans.

Avoiding the rate cycle by fixing your home loan might be tempting, but the deals are getting worse again. Most changes to fixed home loans in the Mozo database in October were increases, particularly on longer terms of 4 and 5-years. This lifted the averages for fixed terms between 1 and 3 basis points.

If the RBA hikes in November, shorter terms may surge again as lenders readjust their rate expectations for the following year.

At the time of writing, these are the average fixed rates for owner occupiers with an 80% LVR and a $400,000 loan:

• 1-year: 6.39% p.a.
• 2-year: 6.32% p.a.
• 3-year: 6.27% p.a.
• 4-year: 6.50% p.a.
• 5-year: 6.50% p.a.

Small and big banks alike have shuffled their home loan offerings. Impressively, we saw some cuts from the major players, particularly on lower loan-to-value ratios (LVRs). We also saw some brand new home loans from insurance provider NRMA.

Here are some of the highlights from October.

• NRMA has launched a new suite of home loans starting from 5.83% p.a. (5.87% p.a. comparison rate*). Bendigo Bank backs the home loans.
• Bank of Queensland slashed its Economy Home Loan rates by 10 basis points for owner-occupiers with LVRs < 80%.
• Investors with up to 95% LVR can now access Commonwealth Bank’s Extra Home Loan.
• Heritage Bank and ME dropped interest rates between 10 and 16 bp on their discount and basic variable options.
• Newcastle Permanent dropped its lowest rate offer for the Special Real Deal Home Loan. It also cut its Discounted Variable Home Loan rates by 11 bp for LVRs < 80%.
• NAB broke from the pack by raising rates on its Base Variable Rate Home Loan by 10 bp.
• Suncorp added 5 bp to two of its home loans for borrowers with LVRs between 60% and 80%.

Here are the lowest variable and fixed mortgage rates (P&I, LVR <80%) among lenders we track.

Lowest variable rates — Mozo database ( 1 November 2023 )^^

Lowest and average fixed rates — Mozo database ( 1 November 2023 )^^

The above are the lowest rates in our database for borrowers with an LVR < 80%. More competitive rates are available for borrowers with lower loan-to-value ratios .

If you’re considering buying property or refinancing your existing mortgage, use Mozo’s home loan comparison table to examine lenders side-by-side, or use our refinance calculator to see how much you could save.

^^Interest rates are based on an owner occupier making principal and interest repayments on a $400,000 loan with an 80% LVR. Check out our dedicated Australian home loan statistics page for more information on average mortgage rates.