Every month, Finder examines the loans in our database and determines our best home loan rates for Australian borrowers. We select loans from our partner lenders, analysed according to a comprehensive, data-driven methodology.
Finder's best home loan categories
We find the best home loans for the following types of borrower:
![Image: Flaticon Young couple](https://www.finder.com.au/finder-au/wp-uploads/2023/08/family.png)
First home buyers
Borrowers looking for their first loan to buy a home.
![Image: Flaticon Coin down](https://www.finder.com.au/finder-au/wp-uploads/2023/08/low-price-1.png)
Refinancers
Existing borrowers looking to switch to a better deal.
![Image: Flaticon Investor](https://www.finder.com.au/finder-au/wp-uploads/2023/08/investor-3.png)
Investors
Property investors looking for a better investment loan.
These picks are broken into fixed rate and variable interest rate types, giving us a total of 6 home loan picks.
- First home buyer - Variable
- First home buyer - Fixed
- Refinancer - Variable
- Refinancer - Fixed
- Investor - Variable
- Investor - Fixed
Finder's home loan methodology
Selection criteria
To ensure all our home loan picks are suitable for a typical borrower, we filter the loans in our database using the following criteria:
- Loan purpose. We do not consider investor loans when looking for the best home loan for first home buyers or refinancers (and vice versa).
- Loan-to-value ratio (LVR). A loan's LVR shows how much you can borrow relative to your deposit. A standard deposit is 20%, so a standard LVR is 80%. For first home buyer picks, we only consider loans with LVRS of 90% or higher, meaning borrowers can get these loans with smaller 10% deposits. Refinancers, who have built equity, can get loans with much lower LVRs.
- Loan amounts. We filter out loans with unusually low maximum loan amounts to ensure our home loan picks are loans most borrowers can actually use.
- Rate type. We filter the home loans into variable and fixed interest rate categories to make a fairer comparison.
While we examine 100s of home loans in our database, our best home loan picks are taken from lenders with whom Finder has a commercial partnership.
Our lenders represent a wide range of market participants, including banks and smaller online lenders.
Methodology
Once we've selected the eligible home loans we rank and score them according to 2 key factors:
![Image: Flaticon Interest rate](https://www.finder.com.au/finder-au/wp-uploads/2023/01/discount_black.png)
Interest rate
The lower the interest rate, the lower your loan repayments and the less interest you pay. This is the number 1 factor we consider when determining our best loans.
Loans with the lowest rates receive a higher score.
![Image: Flaticon Fees](https://www.finder.com.au/finder-au/wp-uploads/2023/08/coin.png)
Loan fees
A home loan's fees can really add to a borrower's costs. We add up the upfront fee costs for each loan, including application, settlement, and valuation fees, plus ongoing monthly fees.
Loans with the lowest total fees receive a higher score.
We use a weighted methodology that puts more emphasis on the interest rate than the fees. This reflects the fact that the interest rate has a much greater impact on a borrower's overall loan costs.
In-depth methodology for each home loan category
We apply the same basic principles for each best home loan category, but the selection criteria and methodology differ slightly for each category.
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