It may be too early to call it a turnaround, but early indications show that consumer interest in the housing market is surging after the RBA February 1% rate cut.

Use of mortgage calculators and mortgage comparison tools at www.yourmortgage.com.au has soared following the rate cut decision.

"We had over 9,000 people calculate how much they could borrow yesterday on our website. This bodes well for housing, at least in the near future," said Nila Sweeney, editor of Your Mortgage magazine. "This indicates that there is a serious level of interest both in new mortgages and people looking to refinance."

With rates plummeting to levels not seen in 45 years and competition between lenders finally starting to hot up, there are a number of deals to be had. Westpac has led the pack with an announcement that it will pass the whole reduction on, closely followed by ANZ and NAB, but Sweeney still thinks that it's wise to shop around.

"There are a number of great deals out there," she said, "and, even with the big reductions from the main banks, there are niche players who are offering even lower rates. Even before the latest cut, we had lenders offering rates below 6% on the website."
 
The most interest has come from consumers in NSW, closely followed by those in Victoria.

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