Managing Director Kim Cannon said the new Expat Home Loan was aimed at the one million Australians living and working outside Australia, many of whom wanted to buy property here to hedge themselves against their eventual return.
“There are many reasons why Australians work overseas, from undertaking the traditional rite of passage to Europe to filling senior roles in multinational corporations, but one thing most have in common is that they plan to return to Australia in the future,” Mr Cannon said.
“Until now, these overseas Australians have been underserviced by home lenders but we are going to change that with our new Expat Home Loan which puts non-resident Australians on a par with their locally-based peers.
The new Expat Home Loan offers significant improvements over Firstmac’s withdrawn Non-Resident VIP Loan.
The biggest change is that Australian Citizens living and working overseas can now borrow up to $1.5 million, double the previous $750,000 limit.
Firstmac will continue to accept up to 90% of PAYG foreign sourced income, when converted to AUD, and our standard policy applies to rental income. The Expat loans start at 7.68% for 80% LVR, P&I loans.
Mr Cannon said that along with plain vanilla home loans, Firstmac would continue to compete heavily for prime residential loans in a range of market segments that were underserviced by the big banks, including SMSF and Green Loans.
“Firstmac provides an important service for brokers by providing highly-competitive options in neglected areas like residential SMSF, Green loans, bridging loans and now expat loans,” Mr Cannon said.
“We are committed to offering customers of all types a simpler solution because getting a loan or any product we provide shouldn't be complicated.”
Brisbane-based Firstmac Limited is an independently-owned, Australian financial services provider with more than 40 years’ experience in home and investment loans.
Media contact: Lauren Clancy at email lclancy@porternovelli.com.au