Laine Gordon

Home owners fix rates amid rate rise speculation

Despite no change to the cash rate in the past four months, Australian home owners are bracing for an interest rate rise and are rushing to lock in their mortgage interest rates at record levels since October 2010.

Commonwealth Bank's fee free but not the cheapest mortgage

Competition between the major banks escalated this month when the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) unveiled its new No-Fee Home Loan. But how does it stack up when compared with some of the top mortgages monitored by RateCity and does a fee-free option always equal a cheaper home loan?

Is the honeymoon over for introductory rate loans?

Home owners are wising up to some deceptively pricey introductory rate home loans, with application rates at record low levels last month for the mortgages RateCity monitors.

Avoid bank fees at the BPay checkout

Despite a stereotype that insists that generation Y is online savvy, new research points to the contrary when it comes to the under-thirties group's bill-paying habits on their transaction accounts.

Bank's ads sway unknowing customers

Just one month since launching an advertising campaign designed to distance itself from the other major banks, NAB has had a surge in account applications. Home loan enquiries soared by more than a third since the campaign was rolled out on February 14.

How to think like a home owner before you buy

The next two years will likely see a spike in the number of first home buyers entering the market. Fed up with increasing rental prices, more than half of the 1000 prospective home buyers surveyed in the annual Future First Homebuyer Survey were looking to the property market for refuge.

Shop to chop thousands off your mortgage

Mortgage holders breathed a sigh of relief earlier this month when the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) chose to hold the cash rate at 4.75 percent for the fourth consecutive month.

The ship has almost sailed for fixed home loans

If you're deciding whether to fix your home loan or go variable, the choice may have been made for you, with fixed interest rates on the rise. Fixed home loans are looking to be on their way up and many borrowers probably missed the boat on locking in a great fixed interest rate on their home loan.

Bank wars take advantage of new competition

With the home loan market heating up, the banking war can mean big savings for your home loan and other financial products.

Australians look toward first home buyers for growth

January Demand for newly built property has been leading the growth of home loans at the end of 2010, echoing the initial damage of the Brisbane floods. But with interest rates expected to climb this year, there are high hopes first home buyers will boost the market back into more lively days.