The biggest six months in refinancing history

The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed that enormous numbers of borrowers are refinancing their home loans.

Australians refinanced $17.8 billion of mortgages in October – not far off the record $18.6 billion of refinancing that occurred in August.

Indeed, the past six months have been the six biggest months in refinancing history.

Part of the reason so many borrowers are refinancing right now is because many lenders charge lower interest rates to new borrowers than loyal customers, as shown by Reserve Bank data.

In October, owner-occupiers who took out new variable loans were charged, on average, 0.51 percentage points less than owner-occupiers with existing loans.

Refinancing to a comparable lower-rate loan could potentially save you tens of thousands of dollars over the life of your loan. I’d be happy to explain the pros and cons of refinancing, and to crunch the numbers to see how much you might be able to save by switching loans.