Login
ISCOVER
Staff Reporter
The volume of discount rates has waned as lenders scale back their cut price products in response to the shaky global economics.
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.
Data from Mortgage Choice found discounted products fell to 42 per cent in February – down from 46 per cent in January.
At the same time, demand for fixed rate products steadied around 21 per cent – significantly higher than the 12 month average of 16 per cent.
"Lenders kicked off 2012 with a slew of loan discounts in a bid to compete for business in a subdued housing finance market. A number of these discounts were scaled back in February as lenders responded to shaky global economics and rising funding costs,” Mortgage Choice spokesperson Belinda Williamson said.
“Our loan approval data supports this trend, showing a 4 percentage point fall in ongoing discount rate loan approvals in February. This is the largest decrease since we began reporting on this loan type in November 2010."
Demand for basic variable loans rose to 17 per cent of all approvals in February, from 14 per cent in January while standard variable loan demand grew marginally to 16 per cent from 15 per cent.
Line of credit loan popularity held steady at 3 per cent and interest in introductory rate loans remained below 1 per cent.
