Hello,
Im wondering if anyone has advise on perhaps locking in an interest rate for a new home loan used to purchase an investment property? As rates are quite low is this a wise idea?
How much more do they cost to fix and do you lose benefits like offset accounts ect?
Perhaps locking in half the rate?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Part of the reason you fix rates is due to risk management and the other part relates to your IP strategy. No one can give you the right answer unless they spend at least an hour with understanding your risk profile which includes current and future goals. Speak to your banker or broker and ensure that they ask you plenty of questions before giving you a definite answer.
TheFinanceShop | Elite Property Finance
http://www.elitepropertyfinance.com
Email Me | Phone MeResidential and Commercial Brokerage
Fixing is a good option if you need to know what your monthly repayments are going to be each month. So from a budgeting perspective – it can be great.
The major downside is the high break costs generally associated with closing down a fixed loan and their lack of flexibility.
If it's a set and forget IP that you don't plan on selling or extracting equity from anytime soon then fixing can be ok. If you do decide to fix and the lender doesn't allow you to access equity later on, then you'll either have to externally refinance to another lender which will incur break costs or stay with the current lender and forgo the equity release.
If you think you might sell the property within the fixed period then avoid fixing.
Cheers
Jamie
Jamie Moore | Pass Go Home Loans Pty Ltd
http://www.passgo.com.au
Email Me | Phone MeMortgage Broker assisting clients Australia wide Email: [email protected]
Interest rates are quite low in comparison to what they have been historically, and the Reserve Bank of Australia still has a lot of room to slash interest rates depending on how things unfold economically.
As Jamie and Shahin mentioned, whether you should fix interest rates or not will depend on your property strategy, personal circumstances and whether you think interest rates are likely to increase or decrease.
In my view it appears that interest rates are trending downwards, and I wouldn't lock in more than 50% until that downtrend shows signs of reversing.
From a quick observation of the current fixed rates on a 3 year loan they now look to be a pretty good option I reckon. Its always difficult knowing where the rates will be in 12 months time but the Reserve Bank here is pretty stingy dropping the rates and for that reason and the fact there are some green shoots appearing in retail and housing I wouldn't be surprised if we are close to the bottom of the rate cycle or close to it.
Bish, the Reserve Bank of Australia have cut interest rates over the last couple of years as when they deemed fit to ensure the Australian economy carried on moving forward.
The difference is in 2012 is there is no corrolation between the RBA cash rate and the individual lenders variable rate.
Lenders fund fixed rate loans in a different manner to variable rate loans and has been mentioned utilising a fixed rate strategy is an important risk mitigation strategy.
Cheers
Yours in Finance
Richard Taylor | Australia's leading private lender
Thanks to everyone who posted. Appreciate you all sharing your knowledge with me
You're welcome
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