Fact Checked
| Lender | Home Loan | Interest Rate | Comparison Rate* | Monthly Repayment | Repayment type | Rate Type | Offset | Redraw | Ongoing Fees | Upfront Fees | Max LVR | Lump Sum Repayment | Additional Repayments | Split Loan Option | Tags | Row Tags | Features | Link | Compare | Promoted Product | Disclosure |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
5.74% p.a. | 5.65% p.a. | $2,915 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $0 | 80% |
| Promoted | Disclosure | |||||||||||
5.79% p.a. | 5.83% p.a. | $2,931 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $530 | 90% |
| Promoted | Disclosure | |||||||||||
5.84% p.a. | 6.08% p.a. | $2,947 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $250 | $250 | 60% |
| Promoted | Disclosure | |||||||||||
5.69% p.a. | 5.70% p.a. | $2,899 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $0 | 60% |
| Promoted | Disclosure | |||||||||||
5.84% p.a. | 5.86% p.a. | $2,947 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $250 | 60% | Disclosure | |||||||||||||
5.89% p.a. | 6.14% p.a. | $2,962 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $248 | $350 | 60% |
| Disclosure | ||||||||||||
5.92% p.a. | 6.05% p.a. | $2,972 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $null | $300 | 70% | ||||||||||||||
5.93% p.a. | 5.96% p.a. | $2,975 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $845 | 60% | ||||||||||||||
5.94% p.a. | 5.96% p.a. | $2,978 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $350 | 80% | Disclosure | |||||||||||||
5.94% p.a. | 6.00% p.a. | $2,978 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $835 | 70% | ||||||||||||||
6.04% p.a. | 6.15% p.a. | $3,011 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $799 | 90% | ||||||||||||||
6.19% p.a. | 6.19% p.a. | $3,059 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $160 | 70% | ||||||||||||||
6.29% p.a. | 6.30% p.a. | $3,092 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $null | $null | 80% | ||||||||||||||
5.74% p.a. | 6.19% p.a. | $2,915 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $530 | 90% |
| Disclosure | ||||||||||||
5.89% p.a. | 5.91% p.a. | $2,962 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $250 | 80% | Disclosure | |||||||||||||
6.54% p.a. | 6.63% p.a. | $3,174 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $8 | $350 | 60% |
Important Information and Comparison Rate Warning
Important Information and Comparison Rate Warning
Stop guessing. Start saving.
Your home loan comparison sorted.
We hunt the best home loans – you claim the savings.
Whether you’re buying, refinancing or investing, easily compare home loan rates, fees and features.
We track the home loan market – so you don’t have to.
5300+ home loan products from 100+ lenders updated daily. From offset accounts to low-deposit loans - we’ve got you covered.
Your lender’s not gonna tell you about a better deal – but we will.
Monthly low-rate home loan deals, rate change alerts and cashback offers, handpicked by our experts.
May Home Loan Rates & Deals
After years of struggle, mortgages in Australia are finally shifting back towards a borrowers market. During April, the title for the lowest home loan rate in our database changed hands several times. Macquarie Bank has top spot for both owner occupiers and investors as we head into May, but with a cash rate cut (maybe a double sized one) looking highly likely before the month is out, the sensible punter will be expecting to find another new set of lowest rates here by the time June rolls around.
As of 1 May 2025, here were the home loans in the savings.com.au database that particularly caught my eye:
Which lenders are offering the lowest home loan rates on Savings.com.au?
- Lowest Variable-rate Home Loan: Australian Mutual Bank - GumLeaf Basic Variable Rate OO (LVR≤60%): 5.64% p.a. (5.71% p.a. comparison rate*)
- Lowest Fixed-rate Home Loan: Macquarie Bank - Basic Three Year Fixed LVR<70%, 5.19% p.a. (5.72% p.a. comparison rate*)
- Lowest Refinance Home Loan: Macquarie Bank - Basic Three Year Fixed LVR<70%, 5.19% p.a. (5.72% p.a. comparison rate*)
- Lowest Investor Home Loan: Macquarie Bank - Investment Basic Three Fixed Home Loan LVR<70%, 5.35% p.a. (5.91% p.a. comparison rate*)
- Lowest Green Home Loan: Bank Australia - Clean Energy Home Loan, New Build, 3 Year Fixed (LVR<90%) 4.94% p.a. (5.95% p.a. comparison rate*)
- Refinance Cashback Deal: Regional Australia Bank - Up to $4,000 cashback on purchasing or refinancing owner occupier or investment home loans valued over $200,000
Until next month 🫡
For more information on how we’ve selected these products, the products we compare, how we make money, and other important information about our service, please click here. Rates correct as of 1 May, 2025 . View disclaimer
How to compare home loan features to save money
Here are some of the top things to consider when choosing a home loan:
Loan Purpose
When comparing home loans, it's important to know exactly what your loan purpose is, as home loan products can wildly differ depending on what you need the home loan for. Here are the most common home loan purposes:
-
Buying a home to live in: Owner-occupied home loans
-
Buying a home to rent out and sell for profit in future: Investment home loans
-
Building a home: Construction home loans
-
Changing an existing home loan: Refinancing home loans
-
Buying an investment property for an SMSF fund: SMSF loans
Fees
Home loans can come with a variety of one-off and ongoing fees, such as establishment fees and annual fees. It can be hard to compare all these fees, but here's a quick tip - use the comparison rate as a guide.
A home loan with high fees will often have a comparison rate that's much higher than its advertised interest rate.
Offset or Redraw
Home loan features such as offset accounts and redraw facilities can be incredibly valuable for borrowers, enabling them to save big on interest by essentially storing their spare cash in the loan, or an account that's linked to the loan. These funds effectively reduce the balance of the loan that's charged interest while remaining accessible for the borrower to withdraw if needed.
However, the level of accessibility of these funds is one of the key differences between offset accounts and redraw facilities, with money typically easier to withdraw from an offset account than a redraw facility. Most home loans come with a redraw facility, while home loans with offset accounts tend to have higher interest rates.
LVR & Deposit Size
Loan to value ratio (LVR) reflects the size of a home loan in respect to the value of the property it's being used to purchase, and is a key number to keep in mind when comparing home loans. It's inherently linked to the size of your deposit - the bigger your deposit or equity in the value of a property, the smaller your LVR will be. For example, if you have 20% equity in your property, you have an 80% LVR. Try out our LVR calculator to discover your LVR.
Lenders often reserve the lowest interest rates for borrowers with LVRs of 60% or less, and typically charge lenders mortgage insurance on borrowers with LVRs over 80%.
Home Loan Approvals
While the cost of a home loan is likely your priority, it might be worth comparing things like the quality of customer service or approval times of different lenders. Some lenders make it much easier to apply for a home loan than others thanks to having a smoother online interface and speedy loan approval technology. You may also wish to compare lenders on their pre-approval requirements and conditions.
Regardless of the lender, you've still got to be prepared to put in a good loan application. Check out our top home loan application tips.
Cashback Offers & Deals
Some lenders have offers designed to entice you to take out a loan or refinance with them. One example is cashback offers, where there is a cash incentive (normally a few thousand dollars) to do so. However, it's important to consider such perks alongside the fundamentals of the loan - namely its interest rate and fees.
Grants & Government Assistance
Particularly if you're a first home buyer, it's worth checking out whether you qualify for support from your state/territory or federal government to help you get your foot in the door. Current government support for home buyers includes:
-
First home buyer grants: One-off grants between $10,000 to $30,000 (depending on the state) for certain buyers buying or building a new home under a certain value
-
Stamp duty concessions: Discounted or waived stamp duty for first home buyers of certain properties
-
Home Guarantee Scheme: Federal government guarantees (the First Home Guarantee, Regional Home Guarantee and Family Home Guarantee) that enable buyers to purchase a home with a deposit as low as 5% (or as low as 2% for the Family Home Guarantee) without being charged LMI.
Are low home loan rates important?
Having a lower interest rate on your home loan is important given interest is the biggest source of a home loan's costs, with the typical borrower paying hundreds of thousands in interest over the life of a loan. So naturally, a loan with a lower interest rate can save you a lot of money. Allow us to demonstrate.
How much can you save with lower rate?
The table below shows the difference in monthly repayments for various loan amounts, plus the total interest cost savings over the life of the loan (assuming a 30-year loan term).
| Loan amount | 5.00% | 5.50% | Monthly savings at 5.00% | Total savings at 5.00% |
| $300,000 | $1,610 | $1,703 | $92 | $33,444 |
| $400,000 | $2,147 | $2,271 | $123 | $44,593 |
| $500,000 | $2,684 | $2,838 | $154 | $55,740 |
| $700,000 | $3,757 | $3,974 | $216 | $78,037 |
Calculations made via Savings.com.au's Home Loan Comparison Calculator.
How to find the cheapest or best home loan interest rate for you
Securing the lowest interest rate on a home loan is easier said than done, with the lowest rates typically reserved for borrowers with strong credit ratings and loan-to-value ratios (LVRs) of 60% or less.
You may also find the loans with the lowest interest rates don't particularly suit your needs or have the features and level of customer support that you're after.
For instance, the lowest-rate loan on the market might be a fixed-rate loan with limited features offered by a small regional bank. However, you might instead be after a variable-rate loan with an offset account from an online lender boasting the latest fintech tools (e.g. mobile apps, speedy loan application software).
With that in mind, here are a few things to consider when looking for a good home loan interest rate:
Look for a low comparison rate
A home loan comparison rate is a rate lenders are legally required to display alongside advertised interest rates on home loans to give borrowers a truer reflection of a loan's cost - taking things like fees and revert rates into account. They essentially make home loans easier to compare (hence the name). So seek out loans with low comparison rates because they're more likely to have a low interest rate and low fees.
Fixed, variable or split rate?
Think carefully about whether you want a fixed or variable interest rate - or even a split rate to give you a mix of both - because there are important pros and cons to both that should be considered:
Fixed rate pros:
-
Peace of mind that your repayments won't increase over the fixed term
-
Can generate big interest savings if you opt for a low fixed-rate ahead of large interest rate rises (Read more: The lucky ones that fixed)
Fixed rate cons:
-
Could be stuck paying a higher rate than those on variable rates if you fix at the wrong time
-
If you refinance or sell your home during the fixed-term, you face paying large break costs
Variable rate pros:
-
Interest rate may fall in the event of an RBA cash rate reduction
-
Generally more flexibility than a fixed-rate loan (e.g. can come with offset account, usually no limit to extra repayments)
Variable rate cons:
-
Interest rate will rise in the even of an RBA cash rate increase
-
Lender can increase your interest rate at their discretion (even without an RBA rate rise)
Principal & Interest or Interest Only
Interest-only loans allow you to make just interest payments on the loan for an agreed period as opposed to repaying the debt (the 'principal'). The repayments may be temporarily lower, but it'll mean your repayments are substantially higher when the interest-only period is up.
Are introductory rates worth it?
Some low rate loans have introductory rates, which charge a lower rate for short time (the honeymoon period) before reverting to a higher rate. Consider whether the interest savings generated during the introductory period are worth the cost of the higher revert rate at the end of it, or for that matter the hassle of having to refinance to a lower rate!
April Home Loan Market Update
The RBA may have chosen to keep the cash rate steady earlier this month, but had the board met a week later it's almost certain there would have been another cut.
The US President's 'Liberation Day' tariffs sparked a panic at the dollar disco, with financial markets plummeting as investors priced-in the heightened risk of a global trade war. And while the tariffs on Australia were relatively small, some of Australia's biggest customers (e.g. China) have been whacked hard, putting our lucrative export industries at risk. It could be enough for Australia to slip into a full-blown recession, which is why some (such as NAB's economics team) are now expecting a 50 basis point (0.50%) cash rate cut in May.
The RBA board may be kicking themselves for not cutting this month, especially given the next monetary policy decision isn't until May 20 - a lot can happen between now and then, not to mention a federal election! Perhaps that's why there have been rumours about the potential for an 'emergency' rate cut (i.e. the RBA lowering the cash rate before its next scheduled meeting) in the coming weeks, which hasn't occurred since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. RBA Governor Michelle Bullock is reported to have had an unscheduled meeting with Treasurer Jim Chalmers, so naturally there's speculation that an emergency cut was discussed - to be a fly on that wall!
If bonds are anything to go by, investors are clearly anticipating imminent rate cuts, with yields plummeting amid the market mayhem. Naturally, this has led several lenders to make large cuts to fixed home loan rates, which are now as low as 5.14% p.a. Some have lowered variable rates too, although not to the same extent.
Home loan holders may be cheering on the prospect of fast and deep cash rate cuts, but I can't help but feel many lenders would fail to pass on such cuts in full to existing borrowers. Thankfully, Australia has a competitive mortgage market, so there's always another lender you can switch to should your current one let you down.
Looking for a different type of home loan?
Finding a home loan can be a challenging. Different circumstances require different loans.
Home Loan Lenders We Compare
Want to learn more about a home loan lender? Explore our in-depth feature pieces including commentary, brand profiles and latest home loan products & rates.
Home Loan Interest Rates in Australia
Like many other developed countries, interest rates in Australia are much higher now than they were during the pandemic, when many lenders were offering home loans for under 2.00% p.a.
Interest rates on home loans have generally followed the trajectory of the cash rate, which is set by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). As the cash rate is increased, rates on loan products typically also increase, and the same relationship applies when the RBA cut rates. From April 2022 to November 2023, the cash rate went from 0.10% to 4.35%, which is the main reason why home loan rates went up so much. Forecasts on the future direction of the cash rate are mixed, with the RBA decisions largely dependent on economic factors such as inflation and unemployment.
Rate increases are not good news for borrowers, but good news for debt-free savers - vice versa for rate decreases.
Lenders tend not to waste any time in passing on the RBA's cash rate rises to mortgage rates, but some are offering much lower rates than others so there are still savings to be had.
What are the biggest banks in Australia?
3 hour(s) ago
Lowering mortgage buffer could unlock extra $276 billion borrowing power
3 day(s) ago
Macquarie reveals big home loan rate cuts
24 Apr 2025
What is the average Australian worth in 2025?
23 Apr 2025
Regional bank hits new fixed home loan low
23 Apr 2025
Westpac slashes advertised home loan rates by 1%
17 Apr 2025
Home Loan FAQs
A home loan is a sum of money that's borrowed from a lender to finance the purchase of a home or investment property. The borrower repays this debt with interest in regular instalments over an agreed term, typically 25-30 years. To provide the lender with security, the property is held by the lender as collateral until the loan is paid off - an arrangement known as a mortgage.
The principal amount is the amount you borrow from the lender, and pay back over time - plus interest. Your repayments typically include both principal and interest payments (unless it's an interest-only loan).
- Make more frequent weekly or fortnightly repayments
- Make extra repayments
- Consider refinancing your home loan to a lower interest rate
- Consider an offset account
- Pay off the principal
Equity in a home is the difference between the value of your home and how much you owe on the mortgage. For example, if your property is worth $500,000 and you still owe $300,000, your equity is $200,000. Our equity calculator can help you work out how much equity you have in your property.
The home loan application process can be quite lengthy but isn't too complicated. It will generally involve the following steps:
- Save for a deposit
- Find your perfect home or getting pre-approval first
- Gather your required documents
- Compare home loan providers
- A preliminary assessment by the lender
- Submit your application to the lender
- The lender completes a property valuation
- The lender approves or rejects the loan
- The lender sends you an offer
- The loan is settled and the funds are advanced to you.
Read our home buying checklist for a complete breakdown of everything you need to know.
Fixing your home loan can be good for those who need cash flow certainty, which is why many investors and first-time buyers choose them. If interest rates are very low, locking in that low rate before they rise can be a good idea. However, that can also backfire if interest rates drop even further, as those changes only apply to variable home loans, not fixed home loans. It can also be harder to repay a fixed loan early as you will have to pay significant break costs for terminating the fixed-rate period.
If your current lender can't offer you what you need anymore, it may be time to refinance your home loan. Shop around and compare new home loans, calculate the costs of switching and consider the length of the new loan. Once you’ve found the ideal loan, apply through the lender and exit your old home loan.
A comparison rate helps you work out the true cost of a loan by combining the interest rate plus a number of fees and charges you can expect to pay over the life of the loan into a single percentage figure. If there is a big difference between the advertised rate and the comparison rate on a product, it probably means there are significant establishment or account-keeping fees.
How much you can borrow for a home loan will depend on many factors such as your income, your savings history, your monthly living expenses, and any outstanding debt you may have. However, it is generally recommended that you borrow no more than 80% of the value of the property, meaning you must have at least a 20% deposit saved. Use our calculator to work out how much you can borrow.
A redraw facility is a home loan feature that allows borrowers to withdraw extra repayments they have made on their home loan. Redraw facilities are useful if you want to reduce your loan amount as quickly as possible, while being able to access those funds at some point in the future should a financial emergency or other situation arises where you may need that money (like a renovation).
An offset account is a transaction account linked to your home loan where the money stored in the account is ‘offset’ against your home loan debt when interest is calculated, reducing the amount of interest charged on your loan.
To be eligible for a home loan, you must have:
- A deposit (at least 5%)
- A good credit history
- A stable income
- A regular savings history
- No significant debts
- At least two forms of identification, one of which must be photo ID
- Bank statements and payslips
- Council rates for any other properties you own
For other relevant documents, see the Home Loan's 101
The amount needed for a house deposit varies, but you'll usually need at least 5% of the property's value, which is an LVR (loan-to-value ratio) of 95%. To avoid paying Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) most lenders will require you to provide a deposit of 20% of the property's value.
The time it takes for a lender to approve your home loan can differ from lender to lender, but it generally takes anywhere between four to six weeks. You can speed up your home loan approval by ensuring you meet all the borrowing criteria, have all your paperwork ready and correctly fill out the application form, have a good savings and credit history, and get pre-approval.
Home loan interest rates have risen, but still savings to be had
Interest rates may be significantly higher than they were a few years ago, but you may be able to give yourself a rate cut by refinancing to a better home loan deal.
As you can see from our comparison table, some lenders are offering home loans at much lower rates than others.
What are the biggest banks in Australia?
When choosing a financial institution for your banking needs, it’s useful to know who the major players are in the Australian banking landscape.
Harrison Astbury
3 hour(s) ago
95% LVR Home Loans Compared
6 day(s) ago
90% LVR mortgages: Is a 10% deposit enough?
6 day(s) ago
What is an owner-occupied home loan?
22 Apr 2025
Should I put money in my offset or pay off my mortgage early?
16 Apr 2025
Home loans by the numbers: Mortgage statistics in Australia
07 Apr 2025
How to pay off your mortgage quickly
03 Apr 2025
