How do I get the best home loan rate?

Your LVR, repayment type, loan purpose, documentation and product features all affect the rate a lender offers. Here is how to improve the parts you can control.

6 min read·Reviewed 1 August 2026·Ratesniffers Editorial Team

How do I get the best home loan rate?

Getting the best home loan rate comes down to three levers: shrinking your loan to value ratio, comparing the whole market rather than only your own bank, and using the comparison rate, not the headline rate, to judge offers. A smaller loan to value ratio typically unlocks a sharper pricing tier, since lenders price risk in bands and a bigger deposit relative to the property value moves you into a lower-risk bracket; check the live comparison table for current verified rates at your own loan to value ratio.

Shrink your loan to value ratio first

Lenders price risk in tiers, and a bigger deposit relative to the property value can unlock a sharper rate band. The table below shows how common loan-to-value tiers affect eligibility; use the live comparison table for current verified rates.

Loan to value ratio	Typical pricing effect
60% or less	Usually eligible for a lender's sharpest standard tier
70%	Often eligible for sharper pricing than the standard 80% tier
80%	Common no-LMI benchmark and broad product eligibility
90%	Fewer products; LMI and higher pricing may apply
95%	Restricted product set; LMI or scheme eligibility usually matters

If you're close to a lower loan to value tier, for example just above 80%, paying down a small extra amount or waiting for a valuation bump can be enough to cross the threshold and unlock a cheaper rate band.

Compare the whole market, not just your own bank

Your existing lender only has to beat what you're prepared to accept, not the sharpest rate genuinely available. Checking the verified panel before you call gives you a current benchmark and keeps the negotiation focused on comparable products rather than a stale headline.

Compare using the comparison rate, not the headline rate

A low headline rate can still work out expensive once application, ongoing, and discharge fees are added in, which is exactly what the comparison rate is designed to capture in a single, legally standardised number. Two products advertising the same headline rate can have meaningfully different comparison rates once fees are counted, so always line up comparison rate against comparison rate when weighing offers.

Pick the loan type that actually matches how you'll use it

An offset account, extra repayments, and redraw all cost more than a bare-bones loan in most cases, so paying for features you won't use is a quiet way to end up on a worse rate than necessary. Conversely, if you genuinely hold savings that offset a large chunk of your balance, a slightly higher rate with a full offset account can beat a cheaper rate with none, once the effective interest saved is counted.

Ask, and use a genuine competing offer as leverage

Once you've found a sharper rate elsewhere, calling your existing lender's retention team with that specific offer in hand is often enough to get matched or beaten without switching at all, since retaining an existing loan is cheaper for a lender than winning a new one.

Beyond the big banks, branchless online lenders are also worth a look, starting with Athena Home Loans's current rates. Another digital-only option is Tiimely Home's current rates. And a third is uBank's current rates.

References

ASIC MoneySmart: Comparing home loans, Consumer guidance on comparison rates and shopping around
RBA: Cash rate target, Current cash rate, the base every variable rate is priced against

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