Login
ISCOVER
Staff Reporter
First home buyers could collectively save $1.8 billion by comparing home loans online, new research has found.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Looking for more benefits? Become a Premium Member.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
Looking for more benefits? Become a Premium Member.
According to the latest report by RateCity, approximately 8,000 Australian households take out their first home loan every month, and it is estimated that 80 per cent of them choose one of the majors.
“If those first home buyers chose a cheaper lender they could potentially save over $23,000 each. Collectively, the savings over 25 years for a year’s worth of first home buyers (around 76,800 households) could be up to $1.8 billion,” RateCity chief executive officer Damian Smith said.
“By definition, first home buyers don’t have the costs and hassle to switch an existing home loan, so they can take advantage of better rates from day one.
“This is an area where there is some genuine competition and no reason for first home buyers not to test the market.”
The current benchmark – the average of the major four banks – basic variable rate is 6.78 per cent and for the national average first home buyer mortgage size of $283,200 according to the ABS, monthly repayments are $1,962.
Compared to the average of the top four home loans on RateCity at 6.34 per cent, Mr Smith said the difference is $78 per month or potentially over $900 per year.
