Along with death and taxes, there’s another certainty in life these days: as soon as there’s an article about housing affordability and the pressure it places on young families, there’ll be a deluge of comments from baby boomers about how they suffered through decades of high interest rates.
Yet, on the flip side, you’ll hear comments about how buying property used to be much easier, without today’s high house prices to content with.
So, which is true?
Well, between July 1974 and May 1996, standard variable home loan rates were tracking at or around double digit levels in Australia, with a couple of blips when home loans were available at around 9 per cent. That’s a 22 year stretch of home loan rates at high levels, so the amount of national debt was significantly less than it is today. In addition, business loans were 20 to 21 per cent and credit card interest rates were 23 to 24 per cent.
Looking at those rates, even with higher house prices, makes today’s market not seem so bad.
The current standard variable rate with the major banks is around 5.25 per cent, and the “mortgage managers” basic variable rate as reported by the Reserve Bank of Australia is 4.15 per cent. Shore Financial’s team of brokers can help to find the best deal for you, with some of our clients getting variable rates from 3.6 per cent.
We appreciate your message and a Shore Financial Adviser will respond to you within a few short days. In the meantime, here’s a few links to keep you occupied.
We appreciate your message and a Shore Financial broker will respond to you within a few short days. In the meantime, here’s a few links to keep you occupied.
