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What 4,861 self-reported mortgage rates show
Where the mortgage rates 4,861 homeowners reported to Ratey sat against two published benchmarks, and the limitations that travel with the finding.
By Ratey. Published .
The cohort
Who is in the sample
From 30 January to 5 August 2026, 4,861 Australian homeowners reported their current mortgage rate to Ratey. Reports came from all eight states and territories, and every figure on this page was computed from that one cohort, with one definition of who counts, on 7 August 2026.
It is an observation sample, not a survey. Nobody was selected or weighted, and no rate was checked against a loan contract: the sample is homeowners who approached an Australian property investment service and reported their rate along the way. That limits what the numbers can claim, and the limitations are printed beside the finding below because they are part of it, not a footnote to it.
The finding
Where the reported rates sat
Of the 4,861 homeowners, 3,751, or 77.2%, reported a rate above the lowest advertised variable rate on Canstar's comparison table, 5.69% p.a. in the table dated 2 July 2026.1 Among the homeowners above that line, the median distance above it was 0.41 percentage points.
The Reserve Bank's benchmark sits higher and flips the picture. The average rate on outstanding owner-occupier loans was 6.20% p.a. in May 2026,2 and 22.1% of the sample, 1,073 homeowners, reported a rate above that. The median reported rate across the whole cohort was 6.00% p.a. Most of the sample, 55.1% of it, sat above the sharpest advertised price and at or below the market average.
The headline figure is published to be quoted, so its limitations are published beside it. All four apply at once:
- Rates are self-reported by the homeowner and are not verified against a loan contract.
- The sample is people who approached an Australian property investment service, not a random sample of Australian homeowners.
- Both benchmarks are point-in-time published figures, not live rates.
- The lowest advertised variable rate is not available to every borrower. Eligibility depends on LVR, credit history, loan size and product features.
None of those limitations is a reason to ignore the number, and none may be dropped when quoting it. Together they say exactly what this is: self-reported rates from homeowners who approached one service, measured against two published, dated benchmarks.
1 Canstar, Home Loan Comparison, lowest variable rates table dated 2 July 2026, retrieved 26 July 2026.
2 Reserve Bank of Australia, Statistical Table F6, data to 31 May 2026, retrieved 26 July 2026.
State by state
The pattern holds in every state and territory
Every state and territory landed between 74.8% of reports above the advertised line in Western Australia (699 reports) and 83.2% in Tasmania (119). The smallest cells, the Northern Territory with 38 reports and the ACT with 81, deserve the loosest grip.
A distribution is not a diagnosis, and nothing in it says what any one homeowner should do. It says what can be checked. The rate you are paying is on your latest statement, the benchmarks above are published and dated, and reviewing your own home loan takes about ten minutes. If yours sits above the advertised line, the mortgage loyalty tax explains how rates drift there year by year.
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Sources
Where these figures come from
Market figures are point in time published figures, checked each time this page is reviewed.
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