Australian Finance Group also known as AFG have shared insights into the recent quarter and prior years. The data shows a major growth in Standard variable rates being taken over fixed in recent years. In the most recent quarter 87.5 percent of loans written were Standard variable while only 3.8 percent were fixed, the remaining 8.7 percent were made up of introductory rate and basic variable products. When looking historically at early 2020 fixed rates had dropped to 14 percent during covid with uncertainty and rates dropping. In the last quarter of 2020 and first quarter of 2021 fixed rates made up 30 percent of all loans written, this is primarily due to record low rates. Moving into 2022 fixed rates made up 38 percent of all loans written in Q1 and Q2 followed by a significant drop to 20 percent in Q3 and only 7 percent in Q4. The rapid move away from fixed was primarily due to the 8 rate rises that had happened between May and December in 2022. from 2023 to 2024 fixed rates continued to make up between 2 and 6 percent of loans written. Fast forward to the end of 2025 in Q4 we see only 1.8 percent are fixed rates while 88.1 percent are standard variable rates. This then jumped to 3.2 percent in Q2 2026 and then 5.4 percent in Q3 as rates were expected to rise again this year. As the RBA continues to meet throughout 2026 the sentiment is for another potential rise prior to the end of the year, with this we should expect to see fixed rate loans rise for Q4 and taper off in the new year.

For borrowers who have remained on fixed for an extended time and are coming up to the end of their fixed term, it is a good idea to talk to your broker prior to the maturity date so you are not caught with a high variable rate as most lenders will keep people on a higher variable rate after a fixed rate matures.