The Best Home Loan Rates Available in October 2026

The lowest variable comparison rate on our board this month is Greater Bank's Great Rate Home Loan, at 6.10% comparison (6.09% advertised). It already carries the Reserve Bank's latest rise, recorded on 9 October.

The Reserve Bank lifted the cash rate by 0.25 percentage points to 4.60% on 29 September. In our readings, 30 of our 31 lenders have passed it on, recorded between 3 and 16 October. The big four, ANZ, CBA, NAB and Westpac, were recorded on 9 and 10 October. Bank Australia, Bank of Sydney and Qudos Bank came last, on 16 October, a day after their date in Finder's tracker. Waiting costs a lender the rise on its existing loans, but keeps its new-customer rate near the top of tables like this one. We can't tell if that is deliberate.

MyState Bank's rate notice put its rise on 8 October. Its open banking feed still shows the old rates, so we use its rate sheet.

That leaves People First Bank, which joined our board on 14 October, after Finder's date for its rise, so we can't measure it. Finder still lists no rise for Bank of China, RACQ Bank or Unity Bank, though all three have gone up in our readings.

Suncorp has left our board. It stopped taking home loan applications on 7 October, and its home loans page says existing loans will move to ANZ. We still record its data, but nobody can apply for its rates, so they're out of our tables and charts.

Like the board, the table ranks advertised rate first, comparison rate to break ties. LVR limits differ by lender; we hold none for the 15 lenders added since 15 September.

Greater Bank fills six of the table's 16 places, but its five fixed rates carry comparison rates of 7.41% to 7.94%. People First Bank's four and five-year leads are for loans up to 80% LVR, and its basic variable ties Westpac's for no ongoing fees.

Since our September edition, 28 lenders have lifted at least one fixed rate, by a net 0.05 to 0.60 points. Seventeen moved before the decision, the big four among them between 17 and 22 September. Eleven more followed; BOQ and ME Bank added 0.55 points to their two and three-year fixes. Beyond Bank's 0.60 points on its one-year fix on 29 September is the largest single move. Unity Bank cut its two-year fix by 0.15 points on 16 October, the only fixed cut we've recorded since the decision. Each date is our first reading of the change.

Macquarie's one-year fix still reads 6.49% advertised, but its comparison rate rose from 6.11% to 6.34% overnight on 15 October. A comparison rate prices $150,000 over 25 years and, as InfoChoice explains, counts the rate a fixed loan reverts to. Macquarie's variable rates rose 0.25 points in the same reading; we read the jump as its revert rate rising with them. The one-year fix spends 24 of those 25 years on that rate and moved 0.23 points; the five-year moved 0.14.

If your lender has passed it on, a 0.25 point rise from 6.00% adds about $81 a month on a hypothetical $500,000 loan over 30 years, principal and interest.

We don't receive commissions or affiliate payments from lenders, and this is general information, not personal advice.