Mortgage Market Trends during COVID-19

COVID-19 has been it is fair to say, like a really bad B Grade movie with George Clooney nowhere to be seen. At this point, I would even be prepared to give some opportunity to Tom Cruise (sorry Nic) to save the day, but there have been some saving graces amongst all that 2020 has been so far! 

1. Refinancing
With the low-interest rates, banks at this point are competing hard for customers. A different lender may offer you better features on your loan that you couldn’t get previously, like an offset account, additional repayment and redraw facilities, an interest-only option or a fixed or split-interest option... with rates just above 2%, there are some serious savings to be had if you are able to consider refinancing.

If your current lender can’t offer you what you want, it's worth looking for mortgage options that do, and at the best possible rate!

2. First Home Buyer Grant
There are a number of select lenders that have been provided quota for the 10,000 Scheme places for the 2020-2021 financial year, and we can assist by guiding you through your lender options, and their respective process, to achieve the best outcome possible.... we are seeing amongst the challenges of 2020, some really exciting outcomes for our First Home Buyers, some of who are really embracing Digital Inspections to achieve some fabulous outcomes!

You could be in your first home with as little as 5 percent deposit with the scheme, and if you have a gift from family, and are currently renting which is a substitute for demonstrating your genuine savings, it could be even less.

3. HomeBuilder Grant
The Australian government announced HomeBuilder: a $700M housing package for Australians to access $25k grants for building a new home or substantially renovate an existing home.

This is available to eligible owner-occupiers including first home buyers and is a time-limited, tax-free grant program to help the residential construction market to get through the Coronavirus pandemic by encouraging the building of a new home and renovations this year... there is more information to be released, so hang on tight, this could be good! 👏🏻

4. Lesser Lenders Mortgage Insurance
St. George Bank / Bank of Melbourne announced that their Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) is reduced to $1.00 during the application stage to help their clients into their own home sooner for those with a loan to valuation ratio (loan / purchase price) of 85% or below.

From 13 July 2020, St.George Bank is offering to let first home buyers who are borrowing up to $850,000 for a property worth up to $1 million take out LMI for the sum of just $1.

This was introduced to account for how Australian first home buyers are re-evaluating their homeownership plans following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Interested to know more in any of these trends? Feel free to reach out, book a meeting and let's chat (because I am home all the time... and I miss people, any excuse will do!)

let's chat!