Around 90 per cent of banks have moved aggressively to lift rates ahead of the Reserve Bank’s May 5 decision.

Aussie households are being hit with a fresh shock as banks move aggressively to lift rates ahead of the Reserve Bank’s May 5 decision.

New Canstar tracking shows a staggering 90 per cent of lenders have hiked at least one fixed rate since the last RBA meeting just five weeks ago, with borrowers now bracing for more pain ahead.

Lowest variable home loan rates. Source: Canstar

Canstar data insights director Sally Tindall said the surge was no coincidence – but a warning shot for homebuyers and property owners.

“Fixed rate hikes continue to roll in the door,” she said. “This is evidence banks are pricing in more than the two rate hikes we’ve already had this year.”

Pressure was intensifying, she said, with 18 lenders hiking nearly 500 fixed rates in a single week, while variable rates also crept higher – up an average 0.25 percentage points.

She said some banks, including NAB, had lifted rates twice in the period, while the average variable rate was now 6.42 per cent.

Ms Tindall said one-year fixed rates had jumped 0.43 percentage points in just over a month, with most now sitting well above 6 per cent. Since January, fixed rates have climbed 0.83 percentage points.

Canstar data insights director Sally Tindall.

Only one lender was now still offering a sub-5.50 per cent fixed rate, with just 89 home loan rates below 5.75 per cent remaining on Canstar’s database – down from 101 a week earlier.

“Consumer confidence has fallen off a cliff since the start of the war,” she said, pointing to the latest ANZ-Roy Morgan index, which has dropped to its fourth-lowest level since records began in 1973.

Ms Tindall said the RBA was now caught in a brutal bind as it weighed up whether to lift the cash rate back to 4.35 per cent come May 5.

“With an already split board from the last meeting, conversations around the decision-making table just got even tougher.”

RBA Monetary Policy Board meetings remaining in 2026:

May 4–5 May

June 15–16

August 10–11

September 28–29

November 2–3

December 7–8

(Source: RBA)