In search of a better deal
It was the year of the “big switch”. In the 10 months to November 2021, $150 billion worth of home loans were refinanced – about $10 billion more than for the whole of 2020. If you’ve had the same loan for a few years, now could be the time to move to a new lender – and it can be easier than you think.
“We’ve seen refinancing snowball through Covid,” says Scott Adams, a Sydney-based senior mortgage broker with Aussie Home Loans. “It’s been driven by a big uptick in property values, a dramatic fall in fixed rates and the availability of refinancing rebates – also known as cashback deals – which have been worth $2000 to $4000.”
He says most homeowners are refinancing to make the most of their equity. “Refinancing purely for a dollar-for-dollar swap to get a better rate is not unusual,” he says. “But more commonly, people have an
