Mortgage payments have just become more difficult for borrowers at Macquarie, the first bank to announce it will raise interest rates following yesterday’s Reserve Bank decision. All eyes are now on the country’s big four banks, ANZ, CBA, NAB and Westpac, to see if they will. raise their home loan rates, as you’d expect.
Following the RBA’s decision to raise rates for the fourth consecutive month, Macquarie took just three hours to confirm it was raising its variable lending rates by 0.5 per cent, from 12 August.
Macquarie Bank is the first major lender to announce it will pass on the full increase from the double RBA to borrowers, while the big four banks are yet to reveal their hands. (Supplied)
RateCity’s Sally Tindall said Macquarie Bank “is the first taxi to leave the range”, and it seemed only a matter of time before others “followed” and passed the increase on in full to variable rate customers.
Tindall praised Macquarie’s decision to increase interest rates on its customers’ savings and current accounts.
“We hope the big four will follow suit and offer decent price increases to their millions of savers.”
Macquarie also said it was cutting interest rates on fixed home loans to 0.75 per cent, a move Tindall described as a “big cut”.
“The tide may be turning for fixed rates, which have risen sharply since late last year,” he added.
The cost of fixed-rate financing is now starting to come down, he said.
“We could see more banks follow Macquarie’s lead and lower fixed rates in the coming weeks.”
The RBA’s decision yesterday marked the first time since the introduction of inflation targets in 1990 that the central bank has raised the cash rate four months in a row.
For the average borrower with a $500,000 loan and 25 years remaining, the increase will mean an increase of $140 a month, or $472 since the RBA started raising rates in May 2022.
For those with larger loans, repayment jumps are just as serious.
A person with a $750,000 loan now faces a monthly increase of $211 ($708 more since May), while those with a $1 million loan face a monthly increase of $281 dollars (or an increase of $944 per month since May).