Like Tree32Likes

AUD / Australian Mortgage Financing & Rates

Closed Thread
Page 1 of 5 1 2 3 4 ... LastLast
  1. #1

    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    8,280

    AUD / Australian Mortgage Financing & Rates

    My mortgage refinance drawdown date is August 23rd and solicitor preparing the paperwork now. I will pocket 2.1% cashback, not on current mortgage value as I'm exercising the loophole to get 2.1% of 50% of current property value which works out to be $152k in my pocket.

    fwiw, my Aussie mortgages have gone down a lot in the last 3 months. I was on 4.74% (investor loans) and then they dropped to 4.49%, then 4.3%, then I called them to enquire if I can get another mortgage and they said they will 'do me a favour' and drop my existing mortgages to 3.94% (not published on their website but they said they will do at their discretion). So total 0.8% wiped off my Aussie mortgages in only 3 months. With money so cheap I'm applying for pre-approval for another mortgage in Aus now at the same time I'm settling with Standard Chartered in Hong Kong. Luckily when I ask the Aussie bank if they want to know about my finances in HK, they say "Dont ask dont tell" and when I ask Standard Chartered in HK they say the same thing

    Skyhook likes this.

  2. #2

    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Posts
    25

    Hi bdw, mind sharing which AU bank that is? I'm with HSBC AU for three mortgages there and currently paying 4.1%.


  3. #3

    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Posts
    109

    I'm with CBA and getting 3.89%.

    Curious, on how you guys ventured on sourcing your properties in Oz. Did you go through a buyers agent? Location?


  4. #4

    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    11,884

    Can confirm the CBA rate. The rate for a non-packaged mortgage is a bit lower, 3.65 iirc.

    I've been told that Macquarie generally has the lowest rates but a more drawn out approval process, also not sure how friendly they are to overseas income earners.


  5. #5

    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Posts
    79

    On Mebank for 3.83% - owner occupier rates.


  6. #6

    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    8,280
    Quote Originally Posted by i-am-si:
    Hi bdw, mind sharing which AU bank that is? I'm with HSBC AU for three mortgages there and currently paying 4.1%.
    I'm with Bankwest and the investor mortgage with all the bells and whistles like the offset account, etc. Their website shows 4.3% but if you call them they have discretion to offer you better and for me they have reduced to 3.94%. If your on 4.1% with HSBC AU, first thing I would do is call and ask if they can offer better. It''s quite normal to ask in Aus, they might give you a bit of a break and if they dont you can threaten to move to another bank. I believe in Aus its quite easy to move around with not so many costs or lock in contracts.

    As jgl and others said, I tihnk CBA is offering better at the moment and there are also many ''non-banks' that can go much lower. But for me, I tried applying to refinance with some of these but because my income in HKD they didn't want to touch me. Bankwest are actually quite good about this, Hong Kong is listed as one of their 'good' countries and they use 80% ratio of HKD income in their calculations which is quite high. But who knows with the breakdown of law and order here they might reduce this to a lower ranked country soon and laugh at my HKD income and tell me to go away.
    meadow8 likes this.

  7. #7

    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    8,280
    Quote Originally Posted by loser:
    On Mebank for 3.83% - owner occupier rates.
    For owner occupier rates, thats quite high. Bankwest are offering me 3.2%. But the problem is I have to live there or intend to live their soon, they want proof that I will leave Hong Kong and a letter from my employer that I am allowed to work from home in Australia and still get my HKD income. But I haven't even spoken to my employer about this now and I'd prefer not to. So I am applying for investor loan again now and just tell the bank I'm living in HK, will be able to convert to owner occupier in the future if my living situation changes.
    meadow8 likes this.

  8. #8

    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    6,317

    Aussie dollar is tanking, hitting a 10 year low. Cheap to buy AUD now, but the currency was never stable. Also the property prices are questionable. Not sure why they don't get the influx of people and money, it's a nice place, but maybe its just "too far" from everywhere else.


  9. #9

    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    8,280
    Quote Originally Posted by martykay:
    Curious, on how you guys ventured on sourcing your properties in Oz. Did you go through a buyers agent? Location?
    I just look on realestate.com.au and domain.com.au. I have family in Perth where I want to buy now and many of the homes are open for inspection on weekends so I ask them to have a look for me, the last 3 weekends in a row they've been out looking and my parents have been bugging me to come home for years now so they can be closer to the grand kids so they are more than eager to help me out . I'm not in a hurry yet, plan to move end of this year so have a couple of months to find something and then a couple of months settlement period.

    Actually I already have a nice house in the area I want and will live in this, but its rented until next May, so I'm looking to buy a small apartment in the same area near the same school to live in only for 4-5 months and then when I can move into my house it will become an investment.

    Are you Australian or foreign buyer? If Australian then its much easier, if foreign you require the FIRB (foreign investment review board) approval and can only buy new properties and have to jump through a lot more hoops.

  10. #10

    Join Date
    Sep 2017
    Location
    Mid-Levels
    Posts
    126

    @bdw your posts are very interesting to read and I am quite fascinated with how you have gamed this whole system. I also get quite jealous since I am not able to take advantage of these things that you have ventured into, but maybe one day I'll be combing through these posts again to read up and take action!

    bdw likes this.

Closed Thread
Page 1 of 5 1 2 3 4 ... LastLast