CBA and Westpac have announced cuts to their fixed rate home loan options, is know a good time for borrowers to be looking at fixed rates?

Whilst both CBA and Westpac are still higher than their competitors, I wouldn’t be fixing with them. If you like the certainty and peace of mind is important then by all means fix a large percentage of your loan with a competitive rate product that suits your needs
Generally staying variable appears to be the better option in the current environment

All the advice I have seen points towards keeping a hefty amount in variable. The only people who are fixing rates are VERY highly motivated by having certainty.......

That being said, I have ALSO noticed that brokers are being subjected to a barrage of questions and heaps more waiting for answers from the banks. I would hate to use the term "credit rationing" but you could be forgiven for thinking the banks are taking their sweet time with approvals for their own purposes......

"what has this got to do with the fixed v variable argument?" I hear you say.......well, not much except that if you decide to ride the variable roller-coaster for now with the expectation of quickly locking yourself into a fixed rate loan, you MIGHT find that things are not as simple or straightforward as they used to be back in the good (BAD) old days.......

And the moral of THAT particular story is, despite the banks push to make the BRC about brokers, I think it is more important than ever to use a professional to help you through the maze of products and rates and options......because as sure as there is sh%t in a goose, things are not gonna get simpler!!!!

BC

Really hard question to answer.
However I would recommend you look at long term fixed rates of the lenders and this will give you an idea of where they believe the rates will be.
Similarly the lenders are offering fixed rates lower then then variable offering. This could also be to prevent the refinancing of loans.

Cheers
Peter
Aussie Ramsgate