AMP and Heritage Bank slashed investment loan rates this morning, with one loan cut by nearly a full percentage point.
The biggest cut was to AMP's Investment Basic Variable Loan, paying interest-only (IO), available for borrowers with up to 80% LVR.
AMP's loan was cut by 95 basis points, and now offers an advertised rate of 2.99% p.a. (3.19% p.a. comparison rate*).
For those wanting to pay principal and interest (P&I), the Investor Basic Variable Loan with 60% LVR was cut by 94 basis points to 2.74% p.a. (2.77% p.a. comparison rate*).
Buying an investment property or looking to refinance? The table below features home loans with some of the lowest interest rates on the market for investors.
Lender | Advertised rate | Comparison rate* | Monthly repayment | Rate Type | Offset | Redraw | Ongoing Fee | Upfront Fees | LVR | Lump Sum Repayment | Additional Repayments | Pre-approval | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Variable | More details | ||||||||||||
| FEATUREDREFINANCE IN MINUTES, NOT WEEKS | Variable Investor, Principal and Interest (Refinance Only)(LVR <75%)
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Variable Investor, Principal and Interest (Refinance Only)(LVR <75%)
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| Variable | More details | ||||||||||||
| AN EASY ONLINE APPLICATION | Yard Investment Loan (Principal and Interest) (LVR < 80%)
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| Variable | More details | ||||||||||||
| FEATUREDFREE REDRAW FACILITY | Smart Investor Home Loan (Principal and Interest) (LVR < 80%)
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Smart Investor Home Loan (Principal and Interest) (LVR < 80%)
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- Option to add an offset for 0.10%
- No monthly or ongoing fees
- Unlimited redraws
Base criteria of: a $400,000 loan amount, variable, fixed, principal and interest (P&I) home loans with an LVR (loan-to-value) ratio of at least 80%. However, the ‘Compare Home Loans’ table allows for calculations to made on variables as selected and input by the user. All products will list the LVR with the product and rate which are clearly published on the Product Provider’s web site. Monthly repayments, once the base criteria are altered by the user, will be based on the selected products’ advertised rates and determined by the loan amount, repayment type, loan term and LVR as input by the user/you. *The Comparison rate is based on a $150,000 loan over 25 years. Warning: this comparison rate is true only for this example and may not include all fees and charges. Different terms, fees or other loan amounts might result in a different comparison rate. Rates correct as of January 25, 2022. View disclaimer.
Heritage Bank also made quite a few cuts to its investment home loans, with two of the key ones being:
- Investment Fixed P&I 3 Years: 10 basis point cut to 2.59% p.a. (4.54% p.a. comparison rate*)
- Home Advantage Investment Fixed IO 3 Years: 20 basis point cut to 2.69% p.a. (3.42% p.a. comparison rate*)
The maximum LVR applicable to both of these loans is 90%.
The sizeable cuts have somewhat bucked the trend seen in the owner-occupier space, with some lenders raising rates in recent weeks, shirking a long run of record-low home loan rates.
On Monday, Suncorp announced it will waive the annual package fee of $375 for customers refinancing their home loan to the Queensland-based lender.
This offer is applicable to mortgage sizes over $250,000, and is available to owner occupiers and investors with LVRs less than 90%.
Is investment lending rebounding?
Throughout 2020 and very early 2021, first home buyers and owner occupiers were flooding the market, but that changed slightly in February.
Owner-occupied lending fell 1.8% on the month, while investment lending rose 4.5% to be nearly a third higher than a year prior.
So is investment lending on the way back to its glory days?
According to Archistar chief economist Dr Andrew Wilson, maybe not so much.
"Although investor activity bucked the national home lending trend over February, the rate of growth was the lowest for four months," Dr Wilson said.
"And despite recent growth, investor lending remains subdued, accounting for just 20.25% of total home lending and remarkably still below the 20.4% market share for first home buyers.
"The average long-term residential loan market share for investors is 33.3% with the February total still 31.0% lower than the record $10.1 billion approved over April 2015 during similar strong market conditions."
Dr Wilson also pointed to a couple of prevailing headwinds for investors.
"Finance constraints remain a significant barrier to investor activity with that group continuing to pay higher interest rates compared to owner-occupiers with a current differential of 0.58% according to the RBA," he said.
"Ongoing lending restrictions to investors have significant longer-term implications for housing supply and general economic growth.
"Although investor activity is revived dragged along by booming housing markets, underlying levels remain clearly at record lows."
Photo by Abby Savage on Unsplash
