In Japan you can get a variable mortgage rate of just two per cent. So could rates really drop that low here?

They have swamped us with TV's and electronics, and now Japanese super company Sony is planning a raid on our mortgage market.

According to Financial Review journalist Tony Boyd “they opened a representative office here last year, and are serious about opening up a full Sony bank operation in Australia.”

• Buying up the USA
• Japanese banks
• Economy 2012

And it's not just the Sony bank. There is actually a raft of Japanese banks ready to do battle in the Australian market.

Sumitomo Mitsui Finance, Mitsubishi UFJ and Mizuho Financial Group all declined to comment, but Boyd says he is patched in to impeccable sources who say the Japanese raid is definitely underway.

“I think it is really big in the sense it could introduce the first serious competition in banking in twenty years,” Boyd explained.

More stories from reporter James Thomas

Boyd says the Japanese banks have a competitive advantage which could see them smash our local rates.

“The average deposit rate in Japan at the moment is 0.1 per cent.”

That's about 600 per cent less than Australian banks pay for their deposits. They get money more cheaply, so they can afford to give it to us cheaply, which our banks will hate, but home owners will love.

Today Tonight's latest property stories

“Any competition is good news for borrowers,” Head of Strategy for Canstar, Steve Mickenbecker, said.

Based on a speculated rate of 4.5 per cent from the Japanese banks, Mickenbecker crunched the numbers on what it could mean for home owners.

“On a $300,000 (mortgage) it's $380, on a half a million dollar loan it is $640, and when your loan hits a million dollars, it's $1,280 per month. They're all monthly savings, and they're all very significant,” Mickenbecker said.

Today Tonight's latest finance stories

John Symond is a significant player in the world of banking. He took the fight to the big four twenty years ago, but today he's playing killjoy.

“Well I would love this to turn out to be real, but I have got to tell you I have got my serious doubts,”, he said.

Aussie John says the Japanese rumours are just that.

Yahoo!7 Finance: Japanese banks could enter Aus market

“As you play with a foreign currency, and bring it to another country, you've got this huge insurance risk of currency movements - otherwise everyone would be doing it. The banks would go to Japan and borrow from the Japanese banks there,” Symond said.

But Boyd believes Big John is no longer an independent voice, and his opinions are essentially those of someone feeling the heat.

“Let's face it, John Symond is 30 per cent owned by the Commonwealth Bank. He is part of the oligopoly that is not providing competition,” he said.

Compare home loans with Money Hound

“I hope it happens, but unfortunately I don't believe in the ‘Tooth Fairy’,” was how Symond chose to put it.

Boyd says foreign interests in Japan have a tough time, but Japanese companies in Australia, he believes, are open slather.

“They have expanded into all sorts of aspects of the Australian economy, and why wouldn't banking be next?”

Despite the fact that he’s sceptical, Symond says “if it did (happen), it would be amazing because consumers would save on a typical loan, $3000, $4000, $5000 a year - and that's after tax. So it would be great, but I'm sceptical.”

• Canstar - www.canstar.com.au