Browse Forums Home Finance 1 Apr 21, 2009 8:38 pm http://buildingatfreeling.blogspot.com/ Building at Freeling Estate Adelaide MKII WE ARE NOW OFFICIALLY FIRST HOME OWNERS AND WE BUILT A NEW HOME FROM SCRATCH Re: Time to Fix Mortgage Interest Rate - Yay or Nay ? 2Apr 21, 2009 8:45 pm Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: Time to Fix Mortgage Interest Rate - Yay or Nay ? 3Apr 21, 2009 10:43 pm I heard one economist suggest that the Reserve Bank might cut interest rates later on in the year when unfortunately unemployment increases. Whether the banks pass on any future rate cut in another matter. Plus I think Westpac and CBA have just raised their fixed loan rates. Some suggest hedging your bets and making half your loan fixed and half variable. Sometimes fixed loans are less flexible in their repayment schedules and other features such as mortgage offset accounts etc. Given the severity of the global economic downturn its hard to imagine that interest rates are going to get cranked up in the near future so you probably don't have to rush into making a decision about fixing or not fixing your mortgage. Re: Time to Fix Mortgage Interest Rate - Yay or Nay ? 4Apr 21, 2009 11:34 pm CBA and Westpac have both increased their fixed-rate mortgage rates http://business.smh.com.au/business/wes ... -ad64.html Re: Time to Fix Mortgage Interest Rate - Yay or Nay ? 5Apr 22, 2009 12:05 am This article explains some of the factors forcing up fixed interest mortgage rates. http://business.theage.com.au/business/ ... -ae3y.html Interestingly it states that "the current take-up of fixed-rate mortgages is at record lows in a reflection of the huge drop in the cost of standard variable mortgages — the main type of loan held by Australian home owners. Fixed-rate products dropped to below just 5 per cent of all new housing loans from a high of 25 per cent at the start of last year. According to JP Morgan's Scott Manning, this is an indication that borrowers are anticipating further cuts to the official cash rate as the impact of the slowing economy becomes more apparent." west sydney mortgage broker 6Apr 22, 2009 1:52 am craigandamy construction loans are only variable. That's funny (actually not so funny as people generally only know the limited range of options provided by the major banks). As a mortgage broker I have arranged many construction loans on fixed rates. I think it's no brainer that as we move deeper into our recession, there is downward pressure on rates. There is already a discussion on this topic Home Loan & Interest Rates - to fix or not?? at this link http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13458&p=209489#p209489 Re: Time to Fix Mortgage Interest Rate - Yay or Nay ? 7Apr 22, 2009 7:04 am nay... I don't think I would ever fix my rate.... and if I did ever consider it, it certainly wouldn't be in a recession that I made the decision. Re: Time to Fix Mortgage Interest Rate - Yay or Nay ? 8Apr 22, 2009 10:16 am In my other house (a few years ago now) we fixed our rate when we first bought it because as first home buyers we wanted to make sure that we could keep the house for 5 years and we knew we could based on what we were paying every week. Having said that I don't think it was worth it because interest rates started rising after our fixed period was over (typical) I personally wouldn't do it again but it comes down to personal preference and different peoples circumstances. You do have time to decide as I don't think it will go up any time soon. Re: Time to Fix Mortgage Interest Rate - Yay or Nay ? 9Apr 26, 2009 12:21 pm Time to lock your rate in? IT'S crunch time for mortgage borrowers. Last week three of the big four banks surprised everybody by raising their fixed-rate mortgages, bucking the seven-month trend of falling rates and blaming an increase in the source of funding for fixed rate loans. CBA, Westpac and NAB all lifted rates by 0.20-0.45 per cent. It's a painful reminder to all those who were holding out for lower fixed-rate deals that fixed rates operate in a different way to variable-rate loans, and that fixes almost always begin to rise before variable rates have bottomed. "It quite possible for variable rates to continue to fall while the cost of fixed rates rises," Rory Robertson, chief interest rate strategist, at Macquarie said. "Fixed rates are priced on expectations of economic activity in three or four years' time, while variable rates are priced much more in line with the RBA's cash rate." Mr Robertson said that the three-year "swap" rate, which is used to price three-year fixed rate loans, fell from a high of about eight per cent last year to a low of 3.5 per cent in the first quarter of this year. http://www.news.com.au/business/money/s ... 27,00.html Re: Time to Fix Mortgage Interest Rate - Yay or Nay ? 10Apr 27, 2009 1:49 pm Hmm .. we may need to rethink our strategy as we were only thinking about looking into fixing rates a while down the track. Thanks for the news - good to know what's happening Re: Time to Fix Mortgage Interest Rate - Yay or Nay ? 11Apr 27, 2009 2:07 pm 50/50 bet really. We have had fixed rates over the last 6-8 years and for most of it been better off. Unfortunatley we fixed again for 3 years just before the downward slide, now we are stuck for another 2 years at a much higher rate. Just remember that Fixed loans are hard to break (big payouts are needed to get out of them). I would stick to variable for now if it was me. Hope it helps. Re: Time to Fix Mortgage Interest Rate - Yay or Nay ? 12Apr 27, 2009 8:43 pm Sorry but I honestly I think you'd be "cuddling cactuses" to fix now... Go here http://westpac.com.au/manage/wrap.nsf/v ... penElement See page 09 - look at Cash rate (predictions). Also http://www.research.commbank.com.au/CBA ... 728,00.pdf Al & Caitie- Building the Hamilton 278 (Coral) at Narangba Hi Lomarg, sounds like you're dealing with quite a commmon issue in construction projects, here's how I would look at handling it. Start by recognising the progress made… 1 4262 5 8998 4 8491 |