Borrowers have once again been hit by a new round of increases in fixed and variable mortgage products by up to 60 basis points—and lenders are blaming rising wholesale and regulatory costs for these hikes.

Bankwest

Bankwest, which last year withdrew its Complete Variable Home Loan investor special rates, has increased rates on its variable investor property home loans for more than $200,000 on loan-to-value ratios of less than 80% by 20 basis points, to 4.54%. The comparison rate increase is 60 basis points.

AMP Bank

Yesterday, AMP Bank increased its variable interest rates for new residential investment loans. These changes do not apply to variable interest rates for owner-occupied loans or existing investment customers, and there are no changes to fixed rates.

The AMP Bank Investment Basic variable loan will increase by 10 basis points to 4.31% per annum; meanwhile, the AMP Bank Investment Professional variable loan will increase by 20 basis points to 4.34% for loans that exceed $750,000.

“A number of factors feed into any interest decision including competitive landscape, the need to manage wholesale funding costs and maintain a balanced portfolio in line with regulatory guidelines,” an AMP Bank spokesperson told The Australian Financial Review. “We remain focused on providing competitive interest rates.”

CBA

Commonwealth Bank of Australia said it would reprice interest-only home loans from March 17 onwards. Other lenders are likely to follow suit because of regulatory pressure to crack down on interest-only loans. This is prompted by fears that many borrowers lack a strategy for repaying the principal and could face financial stress as rates rise. 
 

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