Introduction

Just over four years ago Sarah bought an investment property. To help pay for it she took out a $........., 25-year mortgage that offered interest-only (IO) repayments for the first five years. At an interest rate of x% per annum those initial repayments amounted to $...... per month.

The benefit of IO was that it offered lower monthly loan repayments for five years, putting less strain on Sarah’s budget. However, with the IO period set to expire and the loan about to convert to principal and interest (P&I), Sarah now faces a significant jump in her monthly repayments. With 20 years remaining on the loan and at a steady x% interest she now needs to repay $,,,,,, per month, an increase of $..........

Sarah was well aware that this increase was coming, of course, and the higher payments were factored into her budget. Using an IO loan to kick off this investment worked out very well for Sarah.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for property investors who used the lower initial repayments on IO loans to borrow more money to buy more property, often at high loan-to-valuation ratios (LVR). After all, property was booming. What could possibly go wrong?

Introduction

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the major trading banks may play the most visible role in setting interest rates, but in many cases they are being reactive rather than proactive.

A wide range of external factors feed into their decision-making process, including in no small part, our collective behaviour as investors and savers, borrowers and consumers. Then there’s the rate of inflation and wages growth, foreign currency exchange, the economic health of our trading partners, and the interest rates paid by local banks to borrow money from overseas.

Suddenly it’s not so easy to figure out where interest rates are headed, even in the short term.

Introduction

It goes without saying that homebuyers love low interest rates. The lower the interest rate the less the mortgage repayments on a particular house, right?

Well, maybe.

Lower interest rates also mean borrowers can service a bigger loan. In a competitive housing market that can push up prices, as we have witnessed this past decade.

So what’s really going on? Have low interest rates been good or bad for homebuyers?

The numbers crunched...

Introduction

Although the Board of the Reserve Bank of Australia has a full agenda at its monthly meetings, the one item most economists and mortgage-holders eagerly anticipate is the cash rate decision. Up, down or steady?

The official cash rate is now 1.5% after the RBA’s last reduction in August in the continuing hope of stimulating economic growth.

But while the experts have been monitoring the manoeuvrings of the RBA, the major banks have decided to go it alone and increased rates on new loans to both investors and home owners; so what does this mean?

Introduction

With so much uncertainty surrounding who now has more control over setting mortgage interest rates - the Reserve Bank or the banks - it is timely to think about your loans and whether they are structured to suit your needs into the future. One of the most obvious considerations for your home mortgage is whether a fixed or variable rate loan is best for you.

Introduction

It is said that Aussies will bet on anything – even two flies crawling up a wall. Our bets have become a bit more sophisticated and now it seems the latest “bets” are taken between economic commentators on what the Reserve Bank of Australia board will do to the cash rate on the first Tuesday of every month. The betting odds are pretty low so it won’t be commentators who will lose too much; it’s the mortgage holders who have more skin in this game.

However, while the economists monitor the manoeuvrings of the RBA, the banking regulator, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has made the lending rules major banks must follow a bit tighter. One effect from this decision is an increase in interest rates to both investors and home owners.

So is it now time to take action?