What type of home loans are there?

There’s more to buying a home than just choosing the right property –- there’s also the matter of how to structure your loan, which will likely dictate how you make your repayments for years to come. As a buyer, one potential option would be to fix your new home loan rate for three years, and if you’re pondering this, we’ll consider the pros and cons, and some other key questions around fixed rate home loans.

When you purchase a new property and take out a home loan, there are generally three categories to choose from:

  • Fixed rate home loans: This option means that you will lock in or ‘fix’ your home loan for a set period of time, during which time your interest payments will not change.
  • Variable rate home loans: This option means that your home loan rate will be changeable, and your interest payments could fluctuate up and down.
  • Split home loans: This option means combining a fixed rate with a variable one, and splitting the percentages in a way that’s appropriate for your needs.

If you want to lock in a steady interest rate for the first few years of your mortgage, then one option might be to choose a three-year fixed rate home loan.

What are potential drawbacks of a 3-year fixed home loan?

If you want the security of locking in a favourable interest rate for three years, there are a number of potential trade-offs you might have to make. These include:

  • fewer features. If you would like to use your home loan account as an everyday banking account, or maintain a redraw balance to help lower your interest rate, then you typically won’t be able to do this on a fixed rate loan, as these features are typically only available with variable rate home loans. If you do want to have features like these on a fixed rate loan, you may need to pay additional fees to access them, depending on your lender.
  • the potential to miss out on a lower interest rate. When you lock your rate in, your repayments will not change if interest rates rise, but you will also not benefit if interest rates fall.
  • an inability to make additional repayments. One feature common to variable rate home loans is the ability to make additional repayments above and beyond what you owe each month, in order to bring down the balance of the loan. Fixed rate loans generally do not allow this, meaning you cannot usually do much to bring down the balance of your loan faster. However, this can vary depending on your lender and home loan product.

What is a 3-year fixed home loan?

A three-year fixed rate home loan is one in which the interest rate you’ll pay is locked in place or ‘fixed’ for a period of three years, usually from the start of the loan. This means that throughout this entire three-year period, your required repayments will remain consistent, rather than potentially fluctuating up or down as they might with a variable rate.

What are potential advantages of a 3-year fixed home loan?

There can be a number of possible benefits you could see from locking in an interest rate, whether you choose to do it for three years or another length of time. These include:

  • a sense of certainty in your repayments. With a three-year fixed rate, your repayments will remain the same from month to month for the whole period, meaning you won’t get any surprises if interest rates go up, and you’ll be able to budget for your other needs and expenses knowing exactly how much your mortgage will cost. In addition to the interest rate, it may be a good idea to consider the comparison rate in working out what you may be able to afford in repayments.
  • the potential to save money on fees and charges. Variable rate loans come with added features like offset accounts and redraw facilities, and while these features are useful, they can make a loan more expensive. If you don’t fancy the bells and whistles or feel like you could do without them, fixing your loan could mean you pay less in fees and charges.

Can you break a 3-year fixed home loan?

Depending on the terms and conditions of a fixed home loan, it may be possible to break it before the loan term is up. Whether you want to refinance your loan to take advantage of a better rate, are selling your house or if circumstances have changed, you may be able to get out of a fixed rate loan, but it could be expensive.

Explore further: Breaking a fixed-rate home loan: What are break costs?

If your contract allows you to exit from your loan early, it’s likely that you will be charged a ‘break cost’ or a ‘break fee’. Lenders charge this amount as a form of compensation for lost profits that they may face as a result of borrowers breaking loans. While there is no set amount for break fees, they generally take into account the fixed interest rate (relative to current interest rates), the amount of time left on the loan, and the amount of the loan itself.

How long can you fix a home loan for?

There is a good deal of flexibility in how long you can fix a home loan – lenders will typically allow you to do it for a shorter period of one, two or three years, or a longer one of up to five or even 10 years. The length of time you choose to lock in your interest rate will ultimately be a matter of discussion between you and your lender, considering what they are willing to offer and how long you want to lock your rate in for.

When is your interest rate locked in?

If you are considering locking in your home loan interest rate for three years, it is important to keep in mind that the interest rate will be set on the day you settle on the property, not the date you applied. Interest rates could fluctuate in this period, so you could theoretically end up locked in at a different rate than the one you were anticipating for the three-year term.

There are ways around this, however. If you want the certainty of fixing the exact rate you want, some lenders will offer you the ability to lock in a rate before settlement, but you may be asked to pay a lock-in fee to guarantee it, and the availability of this feature will depend on the individual lender and the home loan product you apply for.

What happens when your fixed loan term ends?

Generally speaking, when a three-year fixed term (or any fixed term) ends, you will have several options. You could:

  • revert to a variable rate for the remainder of your home loan
  • refinance with your current lender to lock in a new fixed rate, or even a split rate home loan, with a fixed and variable component
  • refinance your loan with a new lender, choosing either a fixed or variable rate, or a split rate combining the two.

Which lenders have the lowest fixed-rate home loans?

If you’re contemplating a three-year fixed rate home loan, you can compare home loans with Canstar, using the table at the top of this page, to find a lender with a low rate that is suitable for your particular needs. You can also take a look at the winners of Canstar’s Fixed Rate Home Loan Awards to find out which lenders can offer value for money to Australian home buyers.

Consider the Target Market Determination (TMD) and Key Facts Sheet (KFS) before making a purchase decision. Contact the product issuer directly for a copy of relevant disclosure documents.

Canstar Star Ratings and Awards

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Looking for an award-winning product or to switch providers or brands? Canstar rates products based on price and features in our Star Ratings and Awards. Our expert Research team shares insights about which home loan products offer 5-Star value and which providers offer outstanding value. We also reveal which providers have the most satisfied customers in our dedicated Customer Satisfaction Awards.

Latest in home loans

About our finance experts

Alasdair Duncan, Senior Finance Journalist

Alasdair DuncanAlasdair has more than 15 years of experience as a journalist, and he specialises in property and lifestyle topics for Canstar. He has a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Queensland and has lectured at QUT. His work has appeared in outlets including Pedestrian.TV, the ABC and Junkee.


Josh Sale, Home Loans Ratings Manager

Headshot of Josh Sale, CanstarAs Canstar’s Ratings Manager, Josh Sale is responsible for the methodology and delivery of Canstar’s Home Loan Star Ratings and Awards. With tertiary qualifications in economics and finance, Josh has worked behind the scenes for the last five years to develop Star Ratings and Awards that help connect consumers with the right home loan for them.

Josh is passionate about helping consumers get hands-on with their home loans, always reminding home buyers that finding the right loan can be as important for your finances as negotiating a fair property purchase price. Josh has been interviewed by media outlets such as the Australian Financial Review, news.com.au and Money Magazine, discussing topics including home loan equity and wider finance trends.

When it comes to Josh’s own property journey, the home loans expert once bought two houses in the same transaction when he ensured the cubby house his daughter loved was listed on the purchase contract for his new home. You can follow Josh on LinkedIn, and Canstar on Twitter and Facebook.


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Important information

For those that love the detail

This advice is general and has not taken into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Consider whether this advice is right for you.

Average rate based on RBA Lenders' Interest Rates for outstanding loans of 5.51% in Jan-26 plus 0.75% to account for cash rate increases. Minimum rate based on owner occupier variable loans available for a loan amount of $600,000, any LVR and principal & interest repayments; excluding introductory and other special condition loans. Repayment calculations assume a loan amount of $600,000 and a total loan term of 25 years. See here for Cost of Living Comparison.

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Home loan Star Ratings are updated daily. During periods of significant market fluctuations, such as adjustments to the reserve bank's cash rate, star rating updates will be paused for variable home loans until the market has stabilised. However, advertised interest rates of products will continue to be updated as advised by lenders. The results don’t include every provider in the market and we may not compare all features relevant to you. Current rates and fees are displayed and may be different to what was rated. You can find a description of the initial sort order below the table. You can use the sort buttons at the top of each column to re-order the display. Learn more about our Home Loans Star Rating Methodology. The rating shown is only one factor to take into account when considering products. The table defaults to display only home loans available to somebody borrowing up to 80% of the property value, but you can use the filters to change this. Similar products might have different features and fees depending on the amount you borrow. Contact the lender for details.

The products and Star Ratings in the table might not match your exact inputs in the selector. Sometimes the methodology uses profiles with categories or bands (e.g. income, loan amount or monthly spend), but sometimes a single methodology, without any categories or bands, is applied.  The results will show the products that most closely match your selection, based on our profiles. If you are unsure about any terms used in the comparison table please refer to the glossary.

What is a Target Market Determination?

A Target Market Determination (‘TMD’) is a document that explains which people particular financial products may be suitable for (the target market) and sets out any conditions around how financial products can be distributed to consumers.

Why do product issuers provide Target Market Determinations?

TMDs are compulsory for most financial products. TMDs are compulsory for most financial products.

Issuers and distributors of financial products must take reasonable steps that are likely to result in financial products reaching consumers in the target market defined by the product issuer. Canstar takes this responsibility seriously. As a distributor, we periodically review the TMDs of products we list on our website to help ensure our distribution channels are likely to result in the products reaching consumers within the relevant target market. This is one of the reasonable steps we take to comply with our obligations.

We recommend that you consider the TMD before making a purchase decision. Contact the product issuer directly for a copy of the TMD.

Any advice on this page is general and has not taken into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Consider whether this general financial advice is right for your personal circumstances. Canstar provides information about credit products. We’re not suggesting or recommending a particular credit product for you. If you decide to apply for a loan, you will deal directly with the provider, not with Canstar. Consider the Target Market Determination (TMD) before making a purchase decision. Contact the product issuer directly for a copy of the TMD. It’s important you check rates and product information directly with the provider. For more information, read our Detailed Disclosure. ^Read the Comparison Rate Warning.

Canstar is not providing a recommendation for your individual circumstances. We cannot and do not recommend that any particular product is suitable for you. 

We provide links to our Online Partners. These are brands that may pay Canstar a fee for referring you. Our tables default to display only our Online Partners’ products initially, you can adjust the Online Partner Filter to see all of the products available for comparison on Canstar’s website. We provide these links so that you can click through to the product provider’s website to get more information. The provision of these links does not constitute a recommendation by Canstar.

Before you elect to terminate or modify existing lending arrangements, we recommend you consider (i) your personal circumstances, and (ii) any associated fees, exit costs and application costs that may be applicable as well as the impact these changes could have on you. We suggest you consider seeking independent advice from a qualified adviser.

“Interest-only loan” generally means a loan where you will only pay interest during the interest-only term. That means you won’t be making payments which reduce debt during the interest-only term.