Australia mortgage rates hold at 6.2% in August 2026

According to the Reserve Bank of Australia, the average interest rate on new home loans to owner-occupiers in Australia was 6.2% in August 2026. The measure covers lending by all institutions and refers to newly written loans rather than the stock of existing mortgages. It therefore reflects the average rate faced by households taking out a loan for their own home during the month.

The August 2026 figure matched the July 2026 reading, when the Reserve Bank of Australia also reported an average of 6.2%. A Housing Market Group calculation based on the central bank's figures puts the change between July 2026 and August 2026 at 0 percentage points. The rate has held at this level since May 2026, with the Reserve Bank of Australia recording 6.2% in May 2026, June 2026, July 2026 and August 2026.

Borrowing costs on new owner-occupier loans rose before this steady spell. The Reserve Bank of Australia reported an average rate of 6.0% in April 2026, and the figure then moved up to 6.2% in May 2026. The recent run of unchanged readings therefore follows an increase earlier in the year, not a period of easing.

Compared with a year before, the average rate on new owner-occupier loans is higher. The Reserve Bank of Australia recorded an average of 5.5% in August 2025. Housing Market Group's calculation from the central bank's data shows a rise of 0.7 percentage points between August 2025 and August 2026. Households arranging a new mortgage for their own home in August 2026 were paying a higher average rate than those who borrowed in August 2025, even though the monthly figures have not moved since May 2026.

Taken together, the Reserve Bank of Australia figures show that the cost of new owner-occupier credit rose between August 2025 and August 2026 and has stayed at 6.2% since May 2026. The data describe a national average across all lending institutions, so they do not show how rates vary between individual lenders, loan sizes or regions of the country. They also do not, on their own, show how demand for housing finance has responded to the change in borrowing costs. What they do show is that, as of August 2026, the average rate on new loans to owner-occupiers in Australia was unchanged on July 2026 and above its level in August 2025.