This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
BANKWEST has increased the home loan rate for interest only investor and owner occupier home loans.
From July 25, there will be a 0.05% increase for new interest only owner occupier home loans.
And from October, the bank will lift rates by 0.25% for interest only investor home loans and by 0.35% for interest only owner occupier home loans.
Bankwest general manager products and pricing Paul Vivian said these interest rate changes are in response to recent regulatory guidance on interest only loans and are not related to the bank levy that was announced as part of the Federal Budget in May or the new capital benchmark requirements announced by APRA on 23 July.
“The changes are being made in line with regulatory guidance and customers can consider moving to our lower principal and interest rates so they pay less interest over the life of their home loan,” he added.
Bankwest is following in the footsteps of its parent company, the Commonwealth Bank.
The CBA has increased the rate for owner-occupier and property investor interest only loan by 30 basis points to 5.77% and 6.24%, respectively. The NAB also raised interest-only loans by 35bps. Westpac by 34bps and ANZ with 30 bps.
Recently the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority ordered the major banks to raise additional capital as it signals further action to mitigate risks in residential mortgages.
Later in the year, the banking regulator will release a discussion paper on proposed revisions to the capital framework.
The regulator said the paper will outline the direction of APRA’s implementation of the forthcoming Basel III changes to risk weights as well as measures to address Australian banks’ structural concentration of exposures to residential mortgages.
Australian Property Journal
