Property investors the winners in home loan wars

PROPERTY investors are set to be the winners of a new home loan battleground, as buyer activity in the Northern Territory surges.

An analysis by RateCity has revealed 22 lenders have slashed their rates on investor home loans over the past two months.

Fourteen have cut their one-year fixed term rates, while 19 have lowered them on their two-year fixed mortgages. The lowest advertised variable rate is with Northern Inland Credit Union at 1.89 per cent, while BCU offers 1.87 and 1.98 per cent on their one- and two-year fixed rate mortgages respectively.

All of these are record lows, according to the comparison website.

It comes as the most recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show the value of new investor home loans (excluding refinancing) in the Northern Territory in April was $31m – up 152 per cent year-on-year.

Nationally, that figure was $8.05bn, the highest it has been since June 2017, showing that investor activity is returning as the Covid pandemic eases.

“After a sharp retreat from the market at the beginning of Covid, investors are flocking back onto the property scene,” RateCity research director Sally Tindall said.

“The hiatus in investor lending was brief at best.

“While investors were quick to pull up stumps at the first sign of trouble last year, record low rates and forecasts of price increases of up to 19 per cent in some hot spots in 2021 has drawn them back into the property game.”

Ms Tindall said the analysis showed nine investor home loans were now under two per cent, compared to none a year ago.

The lowest variable rate for investors had fallen from 2.79 per cent to 1.89 per cent over 12 months, while the lowest twoyear fixed rate had dropped from 2.34 per cent to 1.98 per cent.