- ANZ is Australia's fourth largest home lender
- It offers a wide range of home loan products as well as regular cashback offers to eligible borrowers
- It is unique among Australian lenders in offering seven and 10 year fixed rate home loans
The Australia and New Zealand Banking Corporation, better known as ANZ, is one of Australia's oldest banks, founded in Sydney as the Bank of Australasia in 1835.
Nearly two centuries later, ANZ is one of Australia's 'big four' banks, alongside Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, and NAB.
It's currently the fourth largest home lender in the country and caters to a range of owner occupier and investment borrowers.
ANZ Home Loans and interest rates
| Lender | Home Loan | Interest Rate | Comparison Rate* | Monthly Repayment | Repayment type | Rate Type | Offset | Redraw | Ongoing Fees | Upfront Fees | Max LVR | Lump Sum Repayment | Extra Repayments | Split Loan Option | Tags | Features | Link | Compare | Promoted Product | Disclosure |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
6.44% p.a. | 6.44% p.a. | $3,141 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $0 | 70% | Disclosure | ||||||||||||
7.24% p.a. | 7.24% p.a. | $3,407 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $320 | 80% | Disclosure | ||||||||||||
7.64% p.a. | 7.64% p.a. | $3,544 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $0 | 100% | Disclosure | ||||||||||||
8.04% p.a. | 8.04% p.a. | $3,683 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $320 | 100% | Disclosure | ||||||||||||
6.69% p.a. | 7.32% p.a. | $3,223 | Principal & Interest | Fixed | $0 | $320 | 80% | Disclosure | ||||||||||||
6.54% p.a. | 7.28% p.a. | $2,725 | Interest-only | Fixed | $0 | $320 | 80% | Disclosure | ||||||||||||
5.94% p.a. | 5.98% p.a. | $2,978 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $530 | 90% |
| Promoted | Disclosure |
ANZ home loan types
Variable rate
For owner occupiers and investors, ANZ has two variable-rate products:
- Standard Variable: Billed as ANZ's 'most flexible' home loan and includes the option to add an offset account for a $10 monthly fee
- Simplicity PLUS: ANZ's 'no frills', lower rate offering that doesn't include many extra features
Fixed rates
ANZ offers fixed-rate home loans to both owner occupiers and investors. As well as standard one to five year terms, ANZ also offers seven and ten year loan terms for those looking to fix their interest rate for longer.
See also:
- Should you fix your home loan interest rate?
- How to choose between a fixed-rate or variable-rate home loan
Other home loan products
As one of the 'big four' home lenders, ANZ offers a vast range of home loan products and features including:
- package home loans
loans with interest-only repayment options
- construction loans
green home loan top ups for energy efficient purposes such as installing solar panels or batteries
ANZ Plus Home Loans
As well as its standard range, ANZ also offers refinancing home loans through its ANZ Plus app.
Like many online-only home loans, interest rates tend to be lower than the bank's traditional home loan products.
ANZ Plus offers variable-rate home loans to owner occupier and investor refinancers for loan-to-value ratios (LVR) up to 80%. Offset accounts are also available.
It's worth noting ANZ Plus home loans are not extended to people refinancing for properties in Tasmania and the Northern Territory.
What makes ANZ home loans different?
Ten year fixed rates
ANZ is virtually unique among lenders in offering seven and 10 year fixed-rate terms to eligible borrowers. These longer terms tend to have higher interest rates to compensate for increased risk but may suit the circumstances of some borrowers.
Read more: Which lenders offer long term fixed rates?
Cashback offers
ANZ offers regular cashback deals to eligible home loan borrowers. The amounts and eligibility vary depending on which promotions are running. The regular beneficiaries are first home buyers and refinancers meeting certain conditions.
First home buyer offers
ANZ is a participating lender under the federal government's 5% Deposit Scheme but for those who don't qualify for the government guarantee, ANZ provides first home buyers with cash that can be used to lower the loan amount or spent any other way. The cashback amount at the time of writing is $3,000.
What the expert says
Founder and broker at Madd Home Loans George Samios shares his likes and dislikes:
Pros of ANZ home loans
- Good choice for self employed borrowers
"ANZ is a very good bank for self-employed people…it's one of the only banks that will look at one year [of financials] in isolation. That makes a big difference for customers who are self employed."
- Allows guarantors to be with any bank they want
"[Other banks] will do a guarantor loan, but they'll need your mum and dad to be with that bank. Let's say your parents bank with ING, but you go to Bankwest, they'll say 'yeah, we can help you and you can go guarantor, but we're going to get your parents moved from ING to Bankwest'. ANZ allows parents to be with any bank they want."
- Cashback offer
"ANZ is the only bank out of the majors at the moment still doing a cashback for refinancers."
Cons of choosing ANZ for your home loan
- Post settlement
"One of the biggest [downsides] to ANZ is the post settlement service. Feedback-wise, we don't hear many great things, they're pretty slow."
- Slower turnaround time
"The turnaround time is advertised as two to three days, but the catch is that with every other bank, it could be two days for the bank to pick up the file and assess it, but once it's picked up it will be staying inside like a 24-hour time frame…
With ANZ, it could be two days before they pick it up, but if they ask for something and you send it back, it then goes back into the queue for another three days."
Can you do better than borrowing through a 'big four' lender?
You can often find lower interest rates through a smaller bank, online, or alternative lenders than what you see advertised by the big banks.
Smaller lenders typically don't have the same overheads to support such as physical branch networks and large workforces, but some people prefer the security of borrowing through a big bank. Let's run through some pros and cons:
Pros
- Stability: Big banks have been around for well over a century and are highly regulated. There is little risk they are folding or being taken over
- Formalised systems: Big banks tend to have processes in place and may be better able to deal with issues such as financial hardship support, fraud, etc.
- Can offer full suite of home loan products: Big banks can offer a wide range of tailored loans and features to suit most borrower needs
- One-stop banking: Big banks can cater for those who prefer to conduct all their banking and financial needs through one institution, e.g. home loans, transaction and savings accounts, credit cards, etc.
- May accept more risk: This will depend on the borrower and their circumstances but bigger banks may absorb more risk on their lending books than smaller lenders will accept
- Branches: Some people simply like the security of knowing they can go to a branch and speak to a person if they have any issues
Cons
- Higher costs: As we've touched on, bigger institutions mean more overheads and this can translate to higher interest rates and fees
- Can have stricter lending criteria: Big banks may have rigid, perhaps automated, lending criteria which may reject borrowers who fall outside the norm
- Can take longer to process applications: Higher volumes can lead to slower processing. If you're after a quick response on a home loan application, it may not be forthcoming at a big bank
- Less personalised service: While big banks may offer personalised service at their branches, they are large institutions with extensive call centres and multiple departments where you may feel like a number
How to apply for an ANZ home loan
Like many of the major lenders, ANZ offers several ways to apply for a home loan:
- Visit a branch
- Contact an ANZ mobile lender who will come to you
- See an ANZ accredited broker
- Request a callback from a home loan specialist to guide you through the online application process
If you're interested in refinancing to an ANZ Plus home loan, you must apply online only.
Home loan eligibility
In general terms, to be eligible for an ANZ home loan, you must be:
- over 18 years old
- an Australian or New Zealand citizen or permanent resident
- have your primary income in Australian dollars