Mortgage Refinance Rates, September 2026

On Ratesniffers' /home-loans/refinance hub. Compare products that may suit a switch, ranked by comparison rate, then confirm your balance and equity and model discharge, setup and break costs at /calculators/refinance-savings. A listed rate is not a refinance quote. To compare all rates, use /home-loans.

On Ratesniffers' /home-loans/refinance hub. Compare products that may suit a switch, ranked by comparison rate, then confirm your balance and equity and model discharge, setup and break costs at /calculators/refinance-savings. A listed rate is not a refinance quote. To compare all rates, use /home-loans.

Refinance rates in Australia are the home loan rates a borrower can switch to, not a separate product class. In the dated 27 August 2026 80% LVR snapshot the average advertised owner-occupier variable rate is 6.33% p.a. and the lowest is 5.93% p.a., a gap worth about $2,400 a year on a $600,000 loan before switching costs. That snapshot does not establish refinance eligibility. Compare on /home-loans/refinance and model costs at /calculators/refinance-savings. To compare all rates, use /home-loans.

Refinance rates in Australia are the home loan rates a borrower can switch to, not a separate product class. In the dated 27 August 2026 80% LVR snapshot the average advertised owner-occupier variable rate is 6.33% p.a. and the lowest is 5.93% p.a., a gap worth about $2,400 a year on a $600,000 loan before switching costs. That snapshot does not establish refinance eligibility. Compare on /home-loans/refinance and model costs at /calculators/refinance-savings. To compare all rates, use /home-loans.

When the switching costs outweigh the saving. With less than 20 per cent equity, lenders mortgage insurance can apply and can cancel out a lower rate. A break fee on a fixed loan can be very high. Extending the term back out also adds interest.

Add up the same items at any balance: a discharge fee from the current lender, state mortgage discharge and registration fees, a possible application or valuation fee on the new loan, and lenders mortgage insurance again only if the new loan is above 80% LVR. Those items do not scale with a $300,000 balance, so the total usually lands in the hundreds to low thousands of dollars. Itemise them with the hidden costs of refinancing guide, then net them off the interest saved with the refinance savings calculator.

Usually when the saving outlasts the switching cost. Take 0.5% of the balance as the interest saved in the first year before fees, then divide the total switching cost by that figure to get the break-even time in years. A large balance and many years left make 0.5% worth acting on; a small balance or a loan close to paid out may not clear the costs. The refinance savings calculator runs the same method on your own numbers.

The lowest total cost over the years you expect to hold the loan, which points to the sharpest comparison rate for your loan type rather than the largest cashback. The comparison rate folds standard fees into one figure, so it captures the annual fee a headline rate hides. A cashback is paid once, and a higher ongoing rate usually outweighs it within a few years, so compare the comparison rate you keep after any cash lands.

There is no fixed salary, because lenders assess a $700,000 loan against income after tax, living expenses, existing debts, dependants and a buffer above the actual rate, not a rule of thumb. Two applicants can hold the same income and be assessed differently on expenses and debts. The Ratesniffers income-required calculator at /calculators/income-required models the income a lender would look for at a given rate and term, and the borrowing power calculator works the other way from your income.

Refinancing replaces your current home loan with a new one, either at a different lender or on a different product with the lender you already have. The debt and the property stay the same. What changes is the rate, the features and the term, which is why most people do it, and the switching costs are what decide whether the change pays.

On a $600,000 owner-occupier loan, moving from the verified-sample average 6.33% variable rate to today's lowest matched rate is worth about $2,400 a year in interest, before exit and setup costs. See the Refinance Savings Index for the month-by-month breakdown.

Expect a discharge fee from your current lender (commonly a few hundred dollars), and on the new loan a possible application or valuation fee and mortgage registration costs, though many lenders waive these or pay cashback to win your business. If your new LVR is above 80%, you may also face Lenders Mortgage Insurance again, even if you didn't pay it originally, so check your updated property value before switching. Total switching costs are usually a few hundred to low thousands of dollars, model them against the interest saving before deciding.

Only if you're leaving a fixed-rate loan before the fixed term ends. Break costs compensate the lender for the difference between your fixed rate and current wholesale rates over the remaining term, and can range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars depending on how much the rate has moved and how long is left. Variable-rate loans generally have no break cost, so refinancing away from one is simpler. Ask your lender for a specific break-cost quote before committing.

Typically two to six weeks from application to settlement, depending on the new lender's turnaround, how quickly you supply documents, and whether a valuation is needed. Straightforward refinances with a strong credit file and simple income can settle faster; self-employed applicants or those needing a fresh valuation usually take longer. Your current loan keeps running as normal until the new one settles, so there's no gap in cover.

Compare mortgage refinance rates in Australia on Ratesniffers' /home-loans/refinance hub: owner-occupier products that may suit a switch, ranked by comparison rate, snapshot dated 27 August 2026. Confirm switching eligibility, then model exit fees, setup costs and repayments at /calculators/refinance-savings. The dated 80% LVR snapshot does not encode refinance eligibility.

The table above shows the rates available in this comparison view and is sorted by comparison rate. Filter for your purpose, repayment type and LVR, then confirm eligibility and product conditions before relying on a displayed rate.

There is no single bank with the best rate for everyone, the sharpest advertised rates usually come from online-direct lenders and challenger brands rather than the Big Four, but the rate you actually qualify for depends on your deposit (LVR), whether you're owner-occupier or investor, and the loan features you need. The lender at the top of the table above has the lowest comparison rate today; sort and filter to match your situation.

A good rate is one at or near the top of the comparison table above for your specific situation. If you're paying noticeably more than the cheapest comparable loans, particularly with a 20%+ deposit and clean credit, it's worth asking your lender for a discount or refinancing.

The interest rate (or headline rate) is the cost of the loan before fees. The comparison rate folds in most standard upfront and ongoing fees, normalised on a $150,000 loan over 25 years, so two loans with the same headline rate but different fees show different comparison rates. It's a mandatory disclosure under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009, and it's the fairer number to rank loans by, which is exactly how the table above is sorted.

Five levers move your rate the most: a lower LVR (a bigger deposit), choosing owner-occupier over investor where it applies, principal-and-interest over interest-only, a clean credit file, and simply asking. Lenders routinely offer existing customers a discount when they call to leave, and a licensed expert can run that negotiation across the whole panel at once, which is the service Ratesniffers connects you to for free.

Yes, and you should. Lenders price new customers more sharply than existing ones, so loyalty often costs you. Call your lender's retention team, quote a cheaper comparable rate from the table above, and ask them to match it. If they won't move, refinancing to a lender that will is usually straightforward, and many pay cashback to switch.

Variable home loan rates track the Reserve Bank's cash rate, so the direction of rates depends on the RBA's decisions, which it reviews roughly every six weeks. We don't make forecasts we can't stand behind, but we do publish a wrap of every RBA decision and what it means for variable-rate borrowers, see our news page. Fixed rates move ahead of the cash rate, based on what the market expects the RBA to do next.

Individual lenders change rates continually, sometimes several times a week, and often within days of an RBA decision or a competitor's move. That's why a comparison table is only useful if it's fresh. Ratesniffers refreshes its rate index daily and stamps every page with the last-updated date so you're never comparing stale numbers.

Variable rates move with the RBA cash rate, so you benefit when rates fall and pay more when they rise; they also tend to come with offset accounts and free extra repayments. Fixed rates lock your repayment for a set term, which buys certainty but usually limits extra repayments and charges break costs if you exit early. Many borrowers split the loan to get some of each, you can filter for fixed, variable or split above.

A deposit of 20% or more (an LVR of 80% or less) gets you the sharpest rates and avoids Lenders Mortgage Insurance, but you can borrow with as little as 5% down. Lower deposits usually mean a slightly higher rate plus LMI, though eligible first home buyers using the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme can avoid LMI even with a small deposit. Use the LVR filter above to see only the loans you qualify for.

Often, yes. Advertised rates are a starting point, and lenders price a well-presented file below their published rate more often than people expect. A licensed expert can put your scenario to the lender and ask for a sharper rate on your behalf, usually at no cost to you. Ratesniffers offers that as a free rate review, and the comparison itself is free and unbiased.

The promoted rate claims come from Ratesniffers' verified 80% LVR snapshot, dated 27 August 2026. The broader comparison table is maintained separately and may include products outside that verified snapshot. Check the displayed source date and product conditions before relying on a rate.

Comparing rates and using the calculators is completely free, with no sign-up or email gate. We don't take paid placement to influence the ranking, loans are sorted by comparison rate, full stop. When you choose to speak to a broker about applying, the lender pays the broker a commission, the same way it would for any mortgage. That's how the service stays free to you.