Major bank cuts fixed rates

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has announced changes to interest rates across its fixed rate mortgage products.

Effective immediately for new customers paying principal and interest:

• three and four-year fixed rates for owner-occupied loans have dropped by 10 basis points
• five-year fixed rate for owner-occupied loans have decreased by 30 basis points
• two, three and five-year fixed rate for investment loans have dropped by 10 basis points

The Commonwealth Bank’s principal and interest three-year fixed rate home loans now start from 3.79 per cent, with investment fixed rate home loans now starting from 3.99 per cent.

Reflecting on the changes, Canstar analyst Steve Mickenbecker said he expects CBA’s changes to spark rate movements across the market.

“This should set off another round of interest rate moves, of course centred on fixed rate loans. The itch is becoming irresistible,” Mr Mickenbecker said.

“The market share of the big four banks has diminished over the last 12 months, a trend they need to put the breaks on.”

Bendigo Bank has also announced cuts to its Bendigo Express Home Loan and Basic Home Loan variable interest rates.

Effective for new residential owner-occupied loan customers from Friday, 12 April:

• Owner-occupier principal and interest variable loans will decrease by 10 basis points to 3.79 per cent for its Bendigo Express Home Loan product
• Owner-occupier principal and interest variable loans will decrease by 20 basis points to 3.79 per cent for its Basic Home Loan product

Bendigo Bank executive, consumer banking, Richard Fennell commented: “For customers who may be considering a new mortgage or change of mortgage provider, our decision to reduce the rate on our Basic and Express Home Loan products will provide them with a highly competitive offer.”

The Commonwealth Bank and Bendigo are the latest lenders to reprice their mortgage products, continuing a trend of out-of-cycle interest rate changes.

ING, Macquarie, ME, HomeStart, Suncorp Bank, Teachers Mutual Bank and Adelaide Bank have recently announced rate reductions on either their fixed rate or variable home loan products.

Conversely, AMP, MyState, NAB and its subsidiary UBank, the Bank of Queensland and Virgin Money have increased rates since the start of 2019, citing funding cost pressures.

Despite the out-of-cycle rate changes, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has held the official cash rate at 1.5 per cent.

However, some analysts, including AMP chief economist Shane Oliver and NAB chief economist, market, Ivan Colhoun, expect the RBA to drop the cash rate over the coming months, in response to weak housing market conditions and subdued wage growth.

[Related: Economist predicts 0.5% cash rate within two years]