Looking to refinance your home loan on a lower rate? Check these three things before calling the bank | Shaun Bond for the Conversation

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For homeowners, making sure you’re on a competitive interest rate hasn’t been this important to your household budget in years.

The Reserve Bank of Australia lifted the official cash rate on Tuesday for the fifth time in 2026, pushing it to 4.85% – higher than it’s been since 2008.

That rate hike came just a day after the property research group Cotality reported national house prices had fallen for a seventh consecutive month, with home values declining at the fastest rate of the past 40 years.

If you’re looking for a better home loan deal, here are three things worth considering first. And if you’re starting to wonder how you’ll afford higher repayments, it’s important to know when to call your bank for help.

Before Tuesday’s rate hike, you could get variable rates as low as 6.09% with a non-bank lender or 6.35–6.7% with a mainstream bank . So assuming most banks pass on this week’s 0.25 basis point rate rise in full, the rate for a basic variable loan from a major bank should soon be about 6.6–7.0%.

If your loan rate is higher than that, it’s worth asking for a better deal from your own bank or exploring refinancing with a new lender.

However, you do need to make sure you’re comparing the right loan type and if it has the features you want. For instance, if having an offset or redraw account is important, you need to specifically search for and compare those options.

You also need to check for loan discharge fees, early repayment penalties and other fees from your existing lender. Those will be in your current loan documents, or else ask your bank.

Check if there are monthly or annual fees you need to factor in paying with a new loan or lender.

Once you have those details, you can use the federal government’s free Moneysmart mortgage calculator to get a better sense of whether you would actually save money by switching lenders.

When a bank is assessing your home loan, they look at the “loan-to-value” (LVR) ratio: how much you’re asking to borrow as a percentage of the value of the property. The lower the LVR, the lower the risk to the bank.

If you need to borrow more than 80% of the value of your property, you’ll be seen as a riskier customer and may have to pay mortgage insurance . This can cost thousands.