Interest Rates – Is It Better To Fix Or Stay Variable?

At the RBA meeting yesterday it was announced that interest rates would again be cut (following a 0.25% drop in October), by a further 0.25%.  The cash rate is now sitting at just 3%, the same as at the peak of the global financial crisis in April 2009.  This got our team at Professionals Paradise Realty Casula Real Estate thinking, what does this mean for the average Liverpool home owner and their monthly mortgage repayments?

According to mortgage advisor Jason Khoury (from iChoice Concord), most Australians tend to keep their mortgages on variable terms for as long as they can afford to, hoping to reap the benefits of any cuts that are made.  While it is still uncertain as to which banks will pass on the cut, and how much of it they will choose to pass on, there are currently some very attractive 3 and 5 year fixed rates on offer if you (or your broker) are willing to hunt around.

The main benefit to fixing interest rates is security.  If you believe it would fall somewhere in the range of ‘tricky’ to ‘impossible’ to pay off your mortgage if rates were to increase by 1 or 2 per cent, you may sleep easier at night knowing you’re locked in at an affordable rate.  At the end of the day, if you come out of your fixed loan period to discover that in fact you would have been better off staying variable, at least you know that you didn’t waste any time or lose sleep worrying about the affordability of your home during that time.

Naturally, if you are easily affording your mortgage repayments every month, you may prefer to stay on a variable home loan for now.  The variable rates are generally lower than fixed, and while your rate is likely to face increases you will also get an immediate benefit from rate cuts as well.

Our team at Professionals Real Estate in Casula would love to help Liverpool home owners and buyers alike, so if you’re new to our blog and either own your home or are in the market to buy, please go back and read our tips for making the most of interest rate cuts.

If you’re in the market to take advantage of the current interest rates and purchase your own slice of Liverpool real estate, we’d love to hear from you.