After announcements earlier in the week from a handful of lenders that low deposit (95%) home loans were back on the agenda, more lenders have added low deposit products back into their home loan suites.

First home buyers often find low deposit home loans useful, particularly as the time taken to save a deposit has blown out in recent years.

Conditions do differ between lenders, but there may also be the option of capitalizing your Lenders Mortgage Insurance, effectively taking your borrowings to 97%, again something that will benefit first home buyers in particular. Check with your mortgage broker for details.

Despite the return of the low deposit loan, it is unlikely that no deposit home loans will be revived, in part due to bank and lenders not having the appetite for risk, and in part due to new legislation for the industry requiring more in-depth investigation into a borrower’s ability to repay a loan.

It’s the second month in a row the RBA has kept rates on hold. Governor Glenn Stevens hinted that the next rate movement may not be for a few months to come.

“The current setting of monetary policy is resulting in interest rates to borrowers around their average levels of the past decade. Pending further information about international and local conditions for demand and prices, the Board views this setting of monetary policy as appropriate,” he said.

The full statement can be viewed here.

The decision by the RBA to keep official rates at 4.5 per cent is welcome news for mortgage holders.

And mortgage brokers agree with the sentiment, saying that fantastic savings can be made on standard variable home loan rates, fixed home loan rates and many other types of home loans if you just know where to look.

In many cases, the difference between interest rates available can vary by half a per cent, providing borrowers with the possibility of making significant savings over the life of their loan.

Your borrowing capacity, or how much you can borrow from a particular lender, will also vary between lenders so it’s often a case of finding the right mix of borrowing capacity and interest rates, and the home loan features you require.

A good mortgage broker is an ideal tool for a borrower to use to determine the right home loan lender and product, with most mortgage brokers having access to a range of major banks and other secure home loan lenders.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Ellis notes that if the current benign picture of the financing of the housing market is to continue it is crucial that lending standards in the mortgage market remain prudent.

“Past experience has clearly shown that in the long run, you don’t improve housing affordability by easing lending standards. That just gets capitalised in the price.

“In fact, easing mortgage lending standards too far can be outright damaging to long-run affordability. This has been amply demonstrated in the recent United States housing meltdown,” Ellis said.

In Australia, lending standards never eased that far, and conditions didn’t get that grim.

Ellis notes that first-home buyers have long faced greater risk than more established home owners who have more equity in their homes. She states that there appears to have not been a drop in lending standards to first-time buyers, even when the First Home Owners Boost was in effect.

“Indeed, across the mortgage market as a whole, lending standards are a little tighter than they were a couple of years ago,” says Ellis.

In summary Ellis said that the global economic slump may still have a way to go and with consumer confidence still low financial conditions could remain tight for several years.

Mortgage holders should expect then, that current lending criteria will remain in force – which generally means borrowers will be required to provide a minimum deposit of  5 per cent as well as provide evidence that genuine savings forms part of that deposit.

Borrowers who require assistance finding a home loan, or who are looking for a low deposit option, should talk to a good mortgage broker for assistance.

The Reserve Bank of Australia today announced that the official cash rate would remain unchanged at 4.50%p.a. Click here for the full statement by the RBA Governor Glenn Stevens.

“The decision to raise rates followed a material upgrade to the Bank’s economic and inflation forecasts and so reflected the RBA’s desire to head off the inflationary impact of Australia’s commodity boom mark II,” said ANZ economist Katie Dean.

“ The minutes show that at the time of the May policy meeting, the bank regarded the problems in Greece as predominantly European issues that were having little impact on Australia. However, as the contagion has spread the RBA is mindful that Europe’s problems could turn into Australia’s problems.

“Since the May policy meeting we have seen further strong data out of China but also a notable rise in global risk premia from European sovereign debt issues,” Dean said.

“The latter should be more than enough to keep the RBA on the sidelines for now.”

 Instead of you trailing from lender to lender, making endless phone calls or trawling the internet, a mortgage broker can do it all for you.

 If you choose the go-it-alone route, you might be lucky to compare three or four different products. Mortgage brokers can compare hundreds and help you get the right home loan!

A good mortgage broker will also help you to understand the various deals that are on offer, explaining all the features and details that might make a big difference to your repayments.

And what’s more, your mortgage broker will lodge your application (in many cases electronically, saving time) and follow it through with the lender – so you don’t have to!

Your broker is the single point of contact for you throughout the process.

 Using a mortgage broker can result in substantial savings in time and money for borrowers!

Your maximum borrowing capacity will vary from lender to lender because lenders use different methods of assessment and different lending criteria. Your personal circumstances and your income will also play a crucial role on the amount that you will be able to borrow.

How do lenders assess my borrowing capacity?

A lender will typically review all your income sources and expenditure, add a margin, and then calculate your uncommitted monthly income. This is the most important factor to most lenders. The greater it is, the larger your borrowing capacity will be.

Basic criteria used to determine how much you can borrow may include:

• Loan to Value Ratio
• Income and types of income, e.g. casual, contract, full-time
• Other loans
• Credit card limits
• Loan terms
• Number of dependents and their situation
• Type of Loan
• Tax rates
• Rental income
• General living expenses, and
• Existing asset position, including the size of your deposit.

They may also look at any property currently or previously owned and the type of property you are looking at (eg. house, apartment).

Tips for increasing your borrowing capacity

You may be able to increase your borrowing capacity by employing one or more of the following measures:

• Pay off outstanding term debts (eg. personal loans)
• Pay off and close any credit card, overdraft or line of credit facilities
• Consider reducing the limit of any facility you maintain
• Work out and stick to a budget to improve your deposit and savings history

Summary: Your borrowing capacity is an indication of how much you can borrow to purchase property. There are a number of different factors involved in calculating your borrowing capacity

If you would like a guideline assessment of your borrowing capacity, a more detailed assessment of your situation or to find the loan that is in your best interest, you can drop me an email tmcdowell@beyondtomorrowfinance.com.au or give me a call on 0430 722 092….I am happy to help!

It’s the RBA’s sixth increase in eight months, bringing the official cash rate to 4.5%.

Treasurer Wayne Swan said it was “unfortunately one of the difficult consequences of an economy recovering better than other advanced economies”.

CBA was the first the react to the RBA’s decision announcing its own change to interest rates within minutes of the announcement. But ANZ, NAB and Westpac were not far behind. The banks also passed on the full rate rise to their high-interest deposits accounts.

The changes will bring Westpac’s variable loan to 7.51%, while ANZ and CBA’s variable home loan sits at 7.41% and 7.36% respectively. NAB’s variable rate product is the lowest at 7.24%.

Repayments will increase by another $48 per month on an average $300,000 mortgage.

 At its meeting today, the Board decided to raise the cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.5 per cent, effective 5 May 2010.

The full statement can be viewed at: RBA Media Release