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Home Loans Today December Interest Rate Review:

Current Interest Rates as at 5 December 2011

Variable 5.60%
6 Month Fixed 5.59%
1 Year Fixed 5.55%
2 Year Fixed 5.65%
3 Year Fixed 5.95%
5 Year Fixed 6.95%

Interest Rate Outlook

Don’t turn on the news if you want any light relief – even though we got through the election rather painlessly we are still subjected to painful scenes every night. Most of which come from overseas and it is not uncommon to see 3 or more clips of rioting or fighting amongst citizens of the same country.

The financial stress that the world economy is under adds fuel to simmering tensions that run through many countries and right now every day it appears that Europe gets worse, as economic instability spreads from Greece, though Italy, France and even on to the previous impregnable Germany. It is at times like this that the tyranny of distance can be our friend, although while we are removed from the violence (except for some smelly campers in our cities) we see, we are not removed from the economic pressure the bad debt crisis in Europe is generating.

Fortunately for us all, this pressure has currently resulted in an easing of long term fixed rates and for the first time in some months we saw a reduction of interest rates in the 2 & 3 year fixed periods. How long this will last or whether it will continue is too difficult to know, however it now sees Variable and Fixed Interest rates closer than they have been for some time.

As such, the question that is now common, is should I fix my rates now? There is no right or wrong answer to this question although with 2 year fixed rates now matching variable there is no longer a dollar cost in buying some stability. It is just some flexibility that clients will forgo by locking in now.

The question of will interest rates go even lower is also a hard one to answer, while we are at historic low rates there is no guarantee that if the above European issues worsen that we will not see further interest rate cuts across the world. Given there is so much uncertainty perhaps the best strategy could be splitting your loan into part variable and part fixed @ a mid-term rate.

If you are looking for a free review please do contact Kevin on 021532569.