A record one in three borrowers fixed their home loan in March: AFG

Larry SchlesingerDecember 7, 2020

With the prospect of securing fixed rate offerings below 5%, one in three new home loan borrowers who used an AFG mortgage broker fixed their rate in March. 

The AFG Mortgage Index, published today, shows that 29.6% of all new home loans were fixed, compared with 24.1% in February and 16.3% in January. 

The March figure is the highest proportion ever recorded by AFG, which bills itself as Australia's largest mortgage broker. 

AFG also recorded its best March on record processing $3.18 billion of home loans, 8.6% higher than in March 2012, and beating its previous record month of March 2009, when it processed $3.15 billion. 

“We have seen an unprecedented surge of borrowers wanting to lock in rates. With many commentators believing the interest rate cycle is at the bottom, borrowers have responded by fixing rates of less than 5% that have been widely on offer,” said Mark Hewitt, general manager of sales and operations at AFG. 

“These rates are very low by historic standards and it makes sense to lock them in while they are still available.” 

AFG’s mortgage sales growth was largely driven by first-home buyers in WA and investors in NSW. 

The AFG Mortgage Index shows the continuing weakness of first-home buying activity in NSW, where only 4% of new borrowers are first-home buyers, and Queensland, where just 5.1% of new borrowers were first-home buyers. 

These figures compare with 15.3% for SA, 18.3% for Victoria and 22.9% in WA.

Larry Schlesinger

Larry Schlesinger was a property writer at Property Observer

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