Australia’s cheapest “green” construction loan launched today

Today online lender loans.com.au made the market-leading move to discount home loan interest rates on energy-efficient ‘green’ homes that make a positive impact on the environment, paving the way for ‘green’ finance options in Australia.

loans.com.au discounted the interest rate by up to 1.59 per cent to 2.08 per cent for the first five years for owner-occupied construction loans where the home has a NatHERS energy rating of at least 7 stars. As of today, this is Australia’s lowest rate construction loan on the market.

loans.com.au has also dropped the interest rate for owner-occupied home loans by 0.4 per cent to 2.08 per cent for newly built homes less than 12 months old with at least a 7-star NatHERS rating.

Managing Director Marie Mortimer believes green is the future of lending, and customers will benefit from making environmentally conscious financial decisions.

“Our green construction loan and green home loan will save Australian families thousands of dollars and reward them for choosing to build or buy a more environmentally friendly energy-efficient home,” Ms Mortimer said.

“We’ve seen a shift in recent years – now consumers are looking for more sustainable options, and that extends to their finance. We’ve been proactive in creating products which meet the needs of the future and ensuring our lending leads the way on sustainability,” she said.

“Borrowers simply need to show us the home’s 7-star NatHERS rating from an accredited assessor, which is typically always included in the building plan for all new buildings, and the application will go through our usual approval process.”

Mortimer recommends that borrowers talk to their builders about meeting the NatHERS requirements.

“The savings you get on your home loan by choosing to go green could easily cover any costs of opting for an environmentally friendly home,” Ms Mortimer said.

The loans.com.au Green Construction Loan and Green Home Loan follows the highly-successful Green Car Loan discount, which was launched in 2018 at the discounted rate of 3.97% for environmentally-friendly electric and hybrid vehicles.

Founded in 2011, loans.com.au is Australia’s largest online lender, with thousands of happy customers across Australia.

This 5-year discount has been made available by a $750 million green mortgage-backed securitisation where all the underlying mortgages are backed by environmentally friendly housing raised by Firstmac, backed by the CEFC and leading Japanese investment bank, Norinchukin.