slash its basic variable rates by 0.2 per cent, bringing its lowest variable rate to 1.99 per cent for 2 year, after which it will return to 2.49 per cent. The rate cuts were not limited to the group’s flagship brand, as Bank of Melbourne, BankSA and St. George Bank also had their basic variable rates decrease by 0.2 per cent.
“Westpac is looking for a bigger slice of the refinancing pie, which hit a record of more than $16 billion in the month of June according to the latest ABS figures,” Sally Tindall, a research director at RateCity.com.au, said. “Westpac is the first big four bank to offer a variable home loan rate starting with a ‘1’, and while the discount is only for the first two years, it reverts to a rate that’s still lower than its big four bank competitors.”
The new attractive deal, offered for both owner-occupiers as well as investors paying principal and interest, is only reserved for new customers. However, Tindall pointed out that it should not stop existing customers from “picking up the phone and asking for a lower rate”.
According to an analysis conducted by the data and analytics website, Westpac’s decision to slash its variable rates comes as no surprise, since it was identified that in the past two months, more than 50 lenders in Australia cut at least one variable rate, while just 10 lenders had their variable rates increased.
However, it was a completely different story for fixed rates, since majority of changes for fixed home loan rates were hikes, particularly for longer terms of 3 years or more. Westpac is also among these lenders, with the company increasing its 4-year and 5-year fixed rates by 0.3 per cent.
