Fixed rates on the way down
Westpac's economics team pulled together an interesting graphic on mortgage rates, showing how better deals are becoming available for borrowers, gradually.
In particular, fixed rates are coming down.
Only around 2 per cent of borrowers are taking fixed rate products at the moment, but this does suggest that variable rates will most likely be on the way down too over the next couple of years.
Australia's most significant mortgage aggregator AFG reported a record $27 billion of mortgage lodgements over the June quarter, suggesting that borrowers are positioning themselves for a strong year ahead.
The strength was broad-based across all of the main states by volume.
Source: AFG
The average mortgage size increased slightly to a new high of $678,333 in the June quarter.
The recent rise in average mortgage sizes has been driven by Queensland, Western Australia, and South Australia, far more so than by Melbourne or Sydney.
There has been a steady recovery in the share of interest-only lending, up to 21 per cent of loans.
The market share of loans going to first homebuyers has remained steady at 11 to 12 per cent over the past few years, but this seems likely to increase in 2026 as stimulus measures come into force.
Investors accounted for 34 per cent of lodgement volumes, the market share having crept higher to hit the highest level since 2017.
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