Lenders are continuing to offer low interest rates and incentives to entice homeowners to refinance. Almost 200 lenders are now offering home loans at interest rates of less than 2%, although Money warns borrowers to do their research, not fall for gimmicks and to fully investigate cashback offers and honeymoon rates.

It says mortgages need to have a “real” quarantined deposit/offset account that runs alongside the home loan and nets off the savings balance from the amount owed.

Otherwise, borrowers can find their savings are subsumed into the mortgage and locked up and unavailable for redraw if needed.

Mozo analysed the 10 best mortgages for owner- occupiers in the market for Money. The cheapest was from Well Home Loans with an interest rate of 1.85%, followed by the Police Credit Union and Tic:Toc at 1.89%. The comparison rate, which includes fees, is slightly lower at Police Credit Union while the Tic:Toc offer has a $10 monthly charge for having an offset account.