Interest rates: Why we will keep paying the same repayments

2 weeks ago 13
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Julia and Michael Melles, pictured with daughter Holly, four months, at their Wynnum home. Photo: Steve Pohlner


While this week’s interest rate cut is a welcome relief for Wynnum’s Julia and Mike Melles, the couple will continue paying the same mortgage repayments to reduce their loan term.

Ms Melles, 33, and her husband, 36, bought their first house last year, opting to swap south Brisbane for the Bayside.

“We are so relieved we are finally in the market,” said Mrs Melles, who works in marketing for Virgin Australia.

“We are happy paying what we are paying (with our mortgage), it’s just a lot.

“But with rates coming down we have decided to keep paying the same amount so that over time our loan becomes less.”

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Michael and Julia Melles, pictured with daughter Holly, are enjoying life on the Bayside. Photo: Steve Pohlner


The couple welcomed their first child, a daughter named Holly, and were desperately trying to get into the market before her arrival.

“We were worried our borrowing capacity would be less and wanted to get in before we had her.”

The couple, who were renting in Mount Gravatt East, wanted to buy where they were living or at nearby Coorparoo or Camp Hill but found houses in those suburbs were too expensive.

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The couple were renting in Mount Gravatt East in Brisbane’s south before they bought in the bayside suburb of Wynnum.


“They were just out of our budget,” she said.

“My husband is a wind surfer and was happy to live down on the Bay and when this house in Wynnum came up, it was for the best.

“It may be a little further from the city than I preferred but we are so close to the water it’s like we live at the Coast.”

The couple bought a home in Wynnum.


Place Bulimba agent Karen Chappell handled the sale and said it was all about lifestyle when buying around the $1m mark in the Wynnum-Manly area.

“There’s a lot of buyers who are really keen to get out of their rental properties and into their own homes and they are looking for lifestyle,” Ms Chappell said.

“That’s why a lot of people are coming from outside of the area.

“It’s young families, people looking to have families, and people looking to get into the market and out of the rental cycle.”

PropTrack data shows the median house price in Wynnum is $1.295m, up 17.7 per cent over 12 months.

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