Westpac ups the ante in mortgage wars with one-year fixed-rate cut to 4.79%

Westpac will offer new borrowers a one-year fixed-rate home loan of 4.79% from today, among the lowest home loan rates available in Australia.

Its state-based subsidiary banks St.George, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA have also cut their fixed-rate home loans below 5%.

Bank of Melbourne today announced cuts to its 1, 3, 4 and 5-year fixed rate home loans, including a three-year fixed rate of 4.95% per annum for packaged home loan customers.

BankSA has cut fixed home loan rates for one, three, four and five-year terms, with the three-year fixed-rate being cut by 34 basis points to 4.95% per annum.

St.George has announced that it will cut its fixed home loan rate for 1, 3, 4 and 5 years, effective May 21 for a limited time.

St.George’s new fixed rates under the Advantage package are 4.99% p.a. for 1 year, 4.95%p.a. for 3 years and 5.49% p.a. for 4 and 5 years. St.George’s 2 year fixed rate remains at4.99% p.a.

Westpac briefly offered a two year fixed-rate home loan at 4.99% in February and March.

The new 4.79% Westpac rate is available for customers who take out a packaged home loan and borrow in excess of $150,000 and includes a 65 basis point discount off its standard advertised one year fixed-rate home loan.

The decision to offer a 4.79% fixed-rate follows the release of interim results this month, which showed nearly a quarter (24%) of Westpac customers fixed their home loan rate in the six months to March 31.

This was up from just 13% in the previous six month period.

Westpac also offers a reduction of 100 basis points off its current headline standard variable rate of 6.26% on mortgages over $500,000, 90 basis points on mortgages between $250,000 and $500,000 and a discount of 70 basis points on loans over $150,000.

Figures from RateCity.com.au have the proportion of fixed-rate home loans at 18.45%, the highest in five years.