OnePoint Wealth Partners

No, Refinancing Doesn't Always Cost You Thousands

MYTH: "Refinancing will cost you thousands in fees."

We hear this from almost every client who's thought about switching and talked themselves out of it.

Here's the reality: most lenders will cover your discharge and new establishment costs to win your business. Break costs only apply if you're on a fixed rate and moving early and even then, the savings usually outweigh the fee within 12–18 months.

The real cost is the one nobody talks about: staying at a rate that's no longer competitive. With the average Australian mortgage now sitting around $735,000, a 0.3% difference in rate can mean well over $2,000 a year in extra interest.

If your loan hasn't been reviewed since the last rate change, it's worth fifteen minutes of your time.

Send us your current rate and loan balance and we'll tell you straight whether switching is worth it.

The five questions we hear every single week.

Swipe through — chances are one of these has crossed your mind too.
Got one we didn't cover? Drop it in the comments and we'll answer it.

Got a question that's not on this list? Ask us in the comments — we'll answer it in next month's post.

How Much Equity Could You Actually Have?

If you bought in Perth even two or three years ago, there's a good chance your equity position has moved more than you realise, dwelling values there are up more than 25% in the past year alone.

Melbourne owners, don't switch off. Even in a softer market, years of repayments plus earlier growth still add up to real, usable equity.

The question we ask every client isn't "should you use it", it's "what would actually make sense for your situation." Sometimes that's a second property. Sometimes it's consolidating higher-interest debt. Sometimes the answer is simply to know the number and sit on it.

Either way, it starts with an honest conversation, not a sales pitch.

Want to know where you actually stand? Book a 20-minute equity check. No obligation, just the numbers.

Is Melbourne Being Undervalued?

While Perth and Brisbane have been grabbing the headlines, Melbourne's median dwelling value has actually eased over recent months and now sits below its November 2025 peak.

That's not the story most people expect to hear, but it's worth sitting with for a moment. Melbourne is still one of the most livable, connected capital cities in the country, with a median dwelling value well below Sydney's and now increasingly competitive against Perth and Brisbane.

Softer conditions aren't a red flag on their own. For buyers who were priced out of Melbourne twelve months ago, this is the closest the gap has been in a while.

This is our opinion, not a prediction, but it's a conversation worth having if Melbourne is on your radar.

Curious whether the numbers actually stack up for you in Melbourne right now? Let's talk it through.

What Our Perth Team Is Seeing This Month

Perth's median dwelling value passed $1.05 million in May, up close to 26% over the past year and still one of the strongest results of any capital city in the country.

What's interesting isn't just the house market, units are actually growing faster right now, up close to 28% annually, as buyers priced out of houses look for a more accessible entry point.

Rental vacancy is still sitting around 2–2.5%, well below what's considered a balanced market, so tenant demand hasn't let up. Median rents are tracking around $700 a week for houses and $680 for units.

For anyone waiting for Perth to "cool off" before jumping in, supply is still the constraint, not demand.

Thinking about the Perth market but not sure where your borrowing power sits? Let's run the numbers before you start looking.

What We're Actually Seeing: Melbourne Investors Looking West

Over the past six months, our Perth team has noticed a real shift. A steady rise in enquiries from Melbourne-based investors looking to diversify into WA.

What's telling is the reasoning. Most aren't chasing a quick capital gain. They're looking for stronger rental yield and more borrowing headroom than their home market currently offers.

It's a pattern that plays out every time growth rotates between cities and right now, that rotation is pointing west.

This is the kind of trend you won't find in a generic market report. It's what we're hearing directly from the clients sitting across the table from us.

Based in Melbourne and curious what a Perth investment property would actually look like on your numbers? Let's map it out.

Why We Don't Just Compare Rates

"Who has the lowest rate?" is the easiest question we get asked, and honestly, the least useful one.

Anyone with an internet connection can find a competitive rate in ten minutes. That was never the hard part.

Here's what actually shapes the advice we give: two clients can walk in wanting the exact same rate from the exact same lender and walk out with completely different loan structures, because their goals aren't the same. One's optimising for flexibility to buy again in two years. The other wants the loan gone as fast as possible.

The rate is rarely the interesting part. The structure behind it is and that's the conversation most people never get to have.

If your last mortgage chat was only about the rate, let's have the bigger conversation.

Over the past three months, we've had more conversations than usual about equity and a pattern keeps showing up.

Homeowners consistently underestimate how much they've built, especially in Perth, where dwelling values are up over 25% in the past year alone. At the same time, plenty assume they can borrow the same amount against that equity as they could two years ago, and that's the part that's changed, with lending buffers now tighter than they were.

In plain terms: your equity is probably higher than you think, but what you can actually do with it depends on today's lending rules, not last year's.
That gap is exactly where a proper review earns its keep.

Want to know your number? We can run an equity and borrowing capacity check together in one conversation.

The RBA Held the Cash Rate at 4.35% — Here's What That Actually Means

The Reserve Bank left the cash rate on hold at 4.35% at its June meeting, pausing after three rises earlier in the year. The next decision lands on 11 August.

A hold isn't a cut, and repayments aren't dropping because of it — but it does mean the pressure isn't getting worse for now, and that's given a lot of our clients breathing room to actually plan rather than react.

If you fixed a rate in the last 18 months, this is a good time to check what you'll roll onto. If you're variable, it's worth confirming your rate is still competitive rather than assuming it moved in line with everyone else's.

We're not economists and we won't pretend to know exactly what happens on 11 August. What we can do is make sure your loan is working as hard as it can in the meantime.

Not sure if your current rate is still competitive? Send it through and we'll benchmark it for you, free.