“Home loan customer satisfaction for Australia’s top 12 banks was at 75.5% in the six months to May 2023, down slightly from a year ago (77.1%) but still clearly higher than February 2020 (74.8%) – the month before Australia went into a nationwide lockdown at the beginning of the pandemic.
“During the pandemic the peak for home loan customer satisfaction across the top 12 banks was in the six months to February 2021 at 80.2%. In retrospect, the fact home loan customer satisfaction peaked during this period is no surprise given there were around 450,000[1] mortgagors who were given ‘mortgage holidays’ with loan repayments deferred in 2020-21.
“Since then, as mortgage repayments resumed for hundreds of thousands of borrowers, home loan customer satisfaction has drifted downwards – although it is still higher than pre-pandemic.
“The other big factor hitting Australians with mortgages over the last year is the unprecedented rate-tightening cycle from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). The RBA has raised interest rates on 12 separate occasions since May 2022, up by a cumulative total of 4% points to 4.1%.
“This is the fastest and largest cycle of interest rate increases on record since the RBA gained its independence in the early 1990s. The current cycle of increases (which is likely to continue) has surpassed the RBA tightening from May 2002 – March 2007 of 3% points, from 4.25% to 7.25%.
“Because of the way interest rates operate in the economy it is generally agreed it takes 18 months to 2 years to see the full impact of an official interest rate increase. Given this extended time lag we are still yet to see the bulk of the impact of the current cycle of increases.
“Perhaps the largest impact will be felt by the nearly 500,000 mortgagors on fixed rate mortgages set to mature and convert to new interest rates during the second half of this year. These mortgagors will all be re-setting on to far higher interest rates than they are currently on and this means there is still far more tightening built into the market without further increases from the RBA.
“Bendigo Bank has excelled during the last year with the highest home loan customer satisfaction at 91.0%, and the largest increase from a year ago of 4.8% points. Close behind in second place is ING on 88.3%, up 0.2% points, while Macquarie (81.6%), St. George (79.4%) and Bankwest (77.4%) fill out the remainder of the top five.
“The big four banks were led by NAB with a home loan customer satisfaction rating of 75.6%, just ahead of Westpac on 75.0% and the Commonwealth Bank on 74.3%.
“Looking forward the challenges of high inflation, increasing interest rates and rising mortgage loan repayments are set to increase over the remainder of 2023. Although these factors will be difficult for many customers they also present new opportunities for banks and financial institutions to appeal to customers who may be unhappy with their current mortgagee and looking for an alternative.”