Rates of the Nation report, investor caps take effect

After the RBA cut the cash rate in May, interest rates were slashed across all personal finance categories. RateCity has unearthed some key trend data in the personal finance category during Q3:

• Home loans – with the official cash rate falling to 2%, the lowest variable rates dropped to under 4% and 1-yr fixed rates as low as 3.33%.
• Investor home loans – with APRA putting the brakes on lenders with investor loan books growing faster than 10%, this period saw a trend towards LVRs being capped, affordability calculations being re-assessed and some discounts being removed for property investors
• Deposit accounts – This quarter we saw online savers cut by more than TDs, which remained relatively flat. This was a reversal of what we saw following the February cut, when TDs dropped by more than the RBA to price in the further cut, which eventuated in May.
• Credit card – providers have been ramping up the already hot bonus offer market, with products offering up 100,000 bonus points – a trend that emerged last year.

To see the full overview, with commentary from banking analyst Peter Arnold, please click below on the attached Rates of the Nation report. For customised commentary or research in other categories please feel free to get in touch at any time.