Tic:Toc leads online lender charge on investor mortgage rates

Home loan rates for residential property investors have reached the lowest point they’ve been in years, and Australia’s online mortgage lenders are the providers at the forefront of the push towards sharper rates.

Since March 2020, when the Reserve Bank made consecutive cuts to the official cash rate, the average variable rate in the Mozo database for investors making principal and interest repayments has dropped by a considerable 47 basis points.

In fact, the current average investment loan rate of 3.63% is the lowest recorded in the Mozo database since tracking began over six years ago.

“Since RBA’s ‘corona cuts’ in March last year and various stimulus programs, there has been significant downward pressure on residential investor interest rates,” said Mozo Interest Rate Expert, Peter Marshall.

“It’s clear investors have been reaping the benefits of the Reserve Bank’s Term Funding Facility (TFF), the removal of the APRA cap on interest only loans, changes to serviceability ratios and increasing competition from online lenders.”

As the graph below demonstrates, investor rates are a far cry from where they were even just a few years ago.

Variable Rate Home Loans

“Four years ago investors were looking at average interest only rates of 5.12% and lenders were limited by the volume of loans they could issue under the APRA cap,” says Marshall.

“Although rental yields can come under pressure during the pandemic, capital gains have continued to remain strong. Today, investor rates are at record lows and property prices are up.”

Online lenders lead the pack

So we know what the average variable rates for investors are looking like at present, but the lowest rates on offer are a different story.

Earlier this week we reported on the dominance of online lenders at the sharpest end of the variable rate market. But the same is true when it comes to investor rates, with online lenders holding the five lowest rates in our database at present.

Notably, Adelaide-based fintech Tic:Toc currently has the distinction of having the lowest variable rates (at 80% LVR) on offer to both owner occupiers and investors in the Mozo database with its Variable Home Loan offer.

Lowest investment variable rates^^

By comparison the average Big Four variable rate for an investor is currently 4.01% - a whopping 182 basis points above the Tic:Toc rate.

According to our home loan repayments calculator , on a $500,000 loan balance being paid off over 20 years the gap between those two rates equates to a difference of $458 in monthly repayments and $109,892 in extra interest paid over the life of the loan.

“With online lenders competing hard for investor loans, it pays to look beyond the Big Four and compare what’s on offer,” Marshall says.

RELATED: Property investors are taking on home loans at the highest level since 2015

Time to snag yourself a lower rate on your own loan? If you’re an investor you’ll want to check out some of the hot deals laid out in the table below, or to compare even more offers for all types of borrowers make sure that the Mozo home loan comparison table is your first destination.

^^Interest rates are based on an investor making principal and interest repayments on a $400,000 loan with an <80% LVR. Loans tracked in the Mozo database accurate as of 15 July, 2021.