Brooke Cooper

1 week ago | yourmortgage.com.au | Brooke Cooper

Tax deductible mortgage repayments, 5% deposits across the board, and 100,000 dedicated dwellings. That's what's being promised to first home buyers in the lead-up to the 3 May election. Let's break them down in the order they're listed above. The tax deduction policy is being offered by the Coalition. It plans to allow those entering the property market for the first time by buying or building a new home to deduct their interest costs on up to $650,000 of a home loan from their taxable income.

1 week ago | yourmortgage.com.au | Brooke Cooper

Westpac has unveiled rates starting from 6.14% p.a. on its packaged Rocket Repay Home Loan, cutting more than a full percentage point from the previous rate. The product includes an offset account and charges a $395 annual package fee. Both owner–occupier and investor loans were affected in what marks the first round of cuts to Westpac's packaged variable rates since it dropped those on its basic Flexi First Option loan for refinancers in March.

2 weeks ago | yourmortgage.com.au | Brooke Cooper

NAB dropped a bombshell on Friday morning, cutting fixed home loan rates for both owner-occupiers and investors – with new rates starting from 5.39% p.a. That's among the most competitive fixed rates on the market – a rare position to find a major lender. The announcement follows NAB's bold forecast, in which the bank predicted a 50 basis point rate cut from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in May – a call well outside the current consensus.

2 weeks ago | yourmortgage.com.au | Brooke Cooper

You know what they say: when the US sneezes, the world catches a cold. That's certainly the energy that trade tariffs briefly imposed by US President Donald Trump brought to the table when they went into effect last week. The ASX 200 – Australia's benchmark index of top companies – plunged 7.5% in the back half of last week, and has since remained volatile amid continued global uncertainty.

2 weeks ago | yourmortgage.com.au | Brooke Cooper

NAB has dramatically revised its outlook for the cash rate, now predicting a 50 basis point cut in May that would take the rate to 3.60%. The cut, if delivered, would be the largest since the early days of the pandemic and would follow a 25 basis point reduction in February. The bank expects this to kick off a series of rate cuts, with 25 basis point moves in July, August, November, and February, ultimately bringing the rate to 2.60% by early 2026 – a steep fall from today's 4.10%.