BOQ's rate cuts: 'New lending becomes competitive in flat housing market'

The Bank of Queensland has rolled out a number of new home loan discounts that will deliver small rate cuts for some existing customers.

From today, the bank has cut rates across its discounted two and three-year fixed standard and packaged home loans for existing owner-occupiers and investors by 0.05 percentage points.

BOQ has also reintroduced its Intro Rate Variable Home Loan, where new customers can be locked into a lower introductory rate for the first two years before reverting to the applicable Clear Path Variable Rate after that period.

For owner-occupiers paying principal and interest, the introductory rate would be 3.69% (*comparison rate 4.21%).

Canstar’s Group Executive of Financial Services Steve Mickenbecker said this is a reasonably competitive interest rate.

“BOQ’s reintroduction of this loan shows how competitive new lending is becoming in a flat housing market,” Mr Mickenbecker said.

The bank’s discounted three-year fixed home loan for owner-occupiers paying principal and interest now has an interest rate of 3.79% (*comparison rate 4.51%), while the investment loan for these customers has a rate of 3.99% (*comparison rate 5.15%).

For investors paying interest-only, the discounted three-year fixed investment loan now has an interest rate of 4.09% (*comparison rate 5.17%).

The deposit criteria has also changed on some of BOQ’s mortgages, meaning owner-occupier borrowers can now apply with a deposit of 10% of the full loan amount rather than the previous minimum of 20%. Investors remain capped at 20%.

Mr Mickenbecker said BOQ joins other lenders – including ANZ – that have recently increased the maximum loan-to-value ratio (LVR) on some mortgages, indicating lenders are chasing market share.