- The major banks have a large and full suite of home loan products and add-ons, including redraw and offset facilities, packaged home loans, fixed rates (up to 10 years in some cases), and variable rates, with the ability to split the home loan too.
- However just because they’re the biggest, does that make them the best? See a snapshot of the major banks' home loan offerings below, and decide for yourself in this article.
Big four bank home loans compared - CBA, Westpac, NAB, and ANZ
| Lender | Home Loan | Interest Rate | Comparison Rate* | Monthly Repayment | Repayment type | Rate Type | Offset | Redraw | Ongoing Fees | Upfront Fees | Max LVR | Lump Sum Repayment | Additional Repayments | Split Loan Option | Tags | Features | Link | Compare | Promoted Product | Disclosure |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
6.44% p.a. | 6.66% p.a. | $3,141 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $0 | 97% | |||||||||||||
6.59% p.a. | 6.59% p.a. | $3,190 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $160 | 70% | |||||||||||||
6.79% p.a. | 6.87% p.a. | $3,256 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $8 | $350 | 70% | |||||||||||||
6.79% p.a. | 7.16% p.a. | $3,256 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $0 | 90% |
Who are the big four banks?
According to data from APRA, Australia is dominated by four big banks, and they make up around three quarters of the value of the Australian home loan market. In terms of ranking the major banks based on home lending for both owner occupiers and investors, CBA is the largest:
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Commonwealth Bank - $542.206 billion
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Westpac - $444.134 billion
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NAB - $307.507 billion
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ANZ - $276.122 billion
Data current to April 2023.
These big banks are so large they each have home loan portfolios at least twice as large as the fifth-largest bank, Macquarie. CBA and Westpac each alone are larger than all the banks that rank 5-10 (Macquarie, Bank of Queensland, Bendigo & Adelaide Bank, ING, Suncorp, and HSBC).
CBA - Commonwealth Bank
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Founded in 1911 by the Federal Government.
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Was Australia’s central bank before the RBA was established in 1959-60, and was wholly government-owned until it was fully privatised between 1991 and 1996.
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Also owns Unloan and Bankwest, and has a 45% stake in online broker group Lendi, which came about after CBA merged Aussie Home Loans in 2020.
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Participates in the First Home Guarantee 2-5% Deposit Scheme.
WBC - Westpac
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Established in 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales, making it Australia’s oldest bank.
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Became ‘Westpac’ in 1982 after a series of mergers and acquisitions.
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Also owns St George, Bank of Melbourne, BankSA, and RAMS.
NAB - National Australia Bank
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Has roots back to 1834.
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Become NAB as we know it in 1981 after the merger of National Bank of Australasia (founded 1858) and the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney (founded 1834).
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Also owns digital bank UBank, which also absorbed neobank 86 400 in mid-2022. In 2022, NAB also acquired Citi’s retail banking portfolio.
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Participates in the First Home Guarantee 2-5% Deposit Scheme.
ANZ - Australia & New Zealand Banking Corporation
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Was founded in London as the Bank of Australasia in 1835.
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Became ANZ as we know it in 1970 when the ANZ Bank and ES&A Bank merged, Australia’s largest at the time.
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Is unique among the major banks in that it offers home loans fixed for 7 and 10 years.
Big four banks: Fixed vs variable-rate home loans
Not sure whether to opt for a variable-rate or locking your home loan with a fixed rate from the major banks? See how a handful compare below.
| Lender | Home Loan | Interest Rate | Comparison Rate* | Monthly Repayment | Repayment type | Rate Type | Offset | Redraw | Ongoing Fees | Upfront Fees | Max LVR | Lump Sum Repayment | Additional Repayments | Split Loan Option | Tags | Features | Link | Compare | Promoted Product | Disclosure |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
6.44% p.a. | 6.66% p.a. | $3,141 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $0 | 97% | |||||||||||||
6.59% p.a. | 6.59% p.a. | $3,190 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $160 | 70% | |||||||||||||
6.79% p.a. | 6.87% p.a. | $3,256 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $8 | $350 | 70% | |||||||||||||
6.79% p.a. | 7.16% p.a. | $3,256 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $0 | 90% |
Advantages of major bank home loans
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Convenience: Chances are you already have a bank account with them, and as an existing customer it could be more convenient just to go with what you’ve always known.
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Branches/physical presence: The big banks have the largest footprint in Australia and in many cases you can still pop into a branch and speak to someone to get sorted, as opposed to other banks which are online-only or through a call centre.
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Package products: Many big banks offer discounts on other financial products if you bundle them all together, such as insurances, credit cards, other loans and more.
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Good apps: The major banks have dedicated a lot of time to their apps, and while this is subjective, they are generally pretty swish and are intuitive to move money around or make changes to your home loan.
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Stability: It’s pretty unlikely these banks will ever collapse or merge with some other mystery bank, with your home loan left in limbo, and they are banned from merging with each other.
Disadvantages of major bank home loans
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Not the most competitive: They need to pay for their huge footprint and staff somehow, and that likely results in a not-so-competitive product. There are more than 100 banks in Australia and many more lenders, so you’re not limited to four banks.
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Hard to unwind if you have other products: If you’ve got a packaged home loan with an insurance policy, credit card or other product, it could be harder to refinance the home loan to a better deal. The banks know this, which is why they offer them.
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May not have the fastest approval times: Major banks have a lot of customers and a lot of applications in any given day, so it can be very easy for approval times to blow out. Smaller digital-focused lenders can approve home loans in a matter of hours, not days or weeks.
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Might be harder if your situation is unique: If you’re self-employed or low doc, or have a rural property, other banks may be more suited to providing finance for your home loan needs.
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Closing branches at a faster rate: The major banks have drawn criticism because they are closing branches, particularly in regional areas. Research from KPMG shows customer-owned banks have roughly four branches per billion in assets, versus 0.9 for the major banks.
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Don’t offer SMSF loans: The major banks pulled out of home loans for self-managed super funds in the 2010s. Instead, a variety of other lenders compete in this space.
Compare CBA, Westpac, NAB, and ANZ with other lenders
| Lender | Home Loan | Interest Rate | Comparison Rate* | Monthly Repayment | Repayment type | Rate Type | Offset | Redraw | Ongoing Fees | Upfront Fees | Max LVR | Lump Sum Repayment | Additional Repayments | Split Loan Option | Tags | Features | Link | Compare | Promoted Product | Disclosure |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
5.69% p.a. | 6.16% p.a. | $2,899 | Principal & Interest | Fixed | $0 | $530 | 90% |
| Promoted | Disclosure | ||||||||||
5.99% p.a. | 5.90% p.a. | $2,995 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $0 | 80% |
| Promoted | Disclosure | ||||||||||
6.04% p.a. | 6.06% p.a. | $3,011 | Principal & Interest | Variable | $0 | $530 | 90% |
| Promoted | Disclosure |
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