Short answer: there's no calendar month that beats another. The best time to refinance is 90 days before your fixed rate ends, whenever your equity crosses the 80% loan-to-value line, or roughly every 12–24 months if you're already on a variable rate. Everything else is secondary.
People often ask about seasonal timing — spring selling season, end of financial year, "wait until after the next RBA meeting." None of that matters nearly as much as your own loan's specific triggers. This guide covers the ones actually worth tracking.
On a fixed rate: the 90-day rule
If you're on a fixed rate, the clearest trigger on the calendar is your fixed term's end date. Most lenders require around 90 days' notice or processing time to have a new loan ready before your fixed period expires — start later than that and you risk rolling onto your lender's standard variable rate by default, which is rarely their most competitive offer.
Acting inside that 90-day window also lets you lock in a new rate before the reversion happens, rather than paying the higher default rate for weeks while a new application is processed.
Pre-approvals are typically valid for 90 days, sometimes up to 120 depending on the lender. If your fixed term still has several months left, it's usually too early to lock anything in — but it's exactly the right time to start comparing.
On variable: no bad time, but a best cadence
There's no equivalent hard deadline if you're already on a variable rate — which is exactly the problem. Without a trigger date, it's easy to never get around to checking. That's how loyalty tax accumulates: the ACCC's Home Loan Price Inquiry found the average gap between new and existing customers widens the longer a loan goes unchecked, as we cover in our refinancing guide for 2026.
A practical cadence: check your rate against the market every 12–24 months, or immediately if you notice your lender advertising a new-customer rate meaningfully below what you're paying.
Cashback offers as a timing lever
Lenders periodically run cashback promotions to win refinance business — typically a few thousand dollars, with a defined application and settlement window. As of early August 2026, examples of live offers include ME Bank and BOQ cashback deals for applications lodged by 28 August 2026, and CommBank's Digi Home Loan offering Qantas Points on eligible loans, with applications accepted through to 30 September 2026.
Cashback offers open and close constantly, and market-wide reporting shows the number of active offers has been declining through 2026 as lenders quietly pull promotions after each rate move. Treat any specific offer as a snapshot, not a guarantee — confirm current terms directly with the lender or your broker before counting on one.
A cashback is most useful when it offsets your switching costs, shortening your break-even period. It's a poor reason to choose a lender on its own — a $2,000 cashback is one-off, while a 0.3 percentage point rate difference on an average loan is worth roughly that much every year, on repeat.
Want to know if now is your moment?
Refii's savings estimate checks your numbers against 30+ lenders in about two minutes.
Property value timing
If your property has likely gone up in value since you bought it, or you've paid down a meaningful chunk of your loan, refinancing after a fresh valuation can move you into a lower loan-to-value tier — which often unlocks a genuinely better rate, not just lower fees. This is one of the few timing decisions that changes the actual rate on offer, rather than just the cost of getting there.
A valuation happens automatically as part of a refinance application, so there's no need to commission one separately first — just be aware that a strong local market can be a legitimate reason to check now rather than waiting.
The full timing checklist
Start comparing now — don't wait for the reversion to standard variable.
That's long enough for loyalty tax to have crept in. Worth a check.
You may have crossed into a better LVR tier without realising.
Worth acting on, but verify the current terms first — these move fast.
That's reason enough. There's no minimum bar to check your options.
Sources
- Mozo, Lenders offering cashback to refinance your home loan.
- Canstar, Home Loan Refinance Cashback Offers & Deals.
- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Home Loan Price Inquiry — Interim Report, March 2020.