<\/p>\n
Two of Australia\u2019s big four hiked rates Thursday ahead of the Reserve Bank\u2019s September meeting.<\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s biggest banks have quietly jacked up interest rates just days from a crucial Reserve Bank move.<\/p>\n
This as Canstar.com.au data insights director Sally Tindall warned \u201cthe big question at this stage is not if the RBA will hike again, but when\u201d \u2013 with latest rate moves by banks a clear sign they\u2019re now bracing for impact.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The latest update as at Thursday September 17. Source: Canstar<\/p>\n
In a terrifying signal that the inflation nightmare is far from over, both NAB and ANZ have today hiked fixed home loan rates by up to 0.20 percentage points.<\/p>\n
The sudden moves push NAB and ANZ\u2019s lowest advertised fixed rates to a punishing 6.49 per cent, joining banking giants ING and Macquarie in tightening the screws on borrowing this month.<\/p>\n
ING hiked its fixed rates by 0.20 percentage points on Wednesday, while Macquarie hiked last week \u2013 both now have their lowest at 6.39 per cent.<\/p>\n
So far nine banks have hiked fixed rates in September as panic builds over what the RBA will do next \u2013 with all the big four including CBA and Westpac united in forecasting that the next cash rate move will be up, and that it will be at least eight months before any sign of relief.<\/p>\n
CBA, Westpac and ANZ are tipping a 0.25 per cent rate hike to hit in November, while NAB warns the hammer could drop in just 12 days\u2019 time on September 29.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Canstar data insights director Sally Tindall<\/p>\n
Ms Tindall said \u201cthe RBA will be going into the next board meeting at the end of this month with an inflation problem that\u2019s still stickier than a kid in a candy store\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bottom line is, if you have a mortgage, start preparing for a hike, and the time to start that prep is now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are currently 50 lenders offering variable rates under 6 per cent for owner-occupiers. That\u2019s a lot of choice, for a lot of borrowers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Banks generally charge a premium on fixed rate loans to protect themselves against potential interest rate rises over the fixed period.<\/p>\n
Canstar found 90 per cent of lenders\u2019 lowest advertised rates were variable rather than fixed now \u2013 \u201ctherefore no surprise borrowers aren\u2019t jumping to fix\u201d. <\/p>\n
It said CBA full-year results showed only 7 per cent of new loans opted for a fixed rate in the six months to June. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Of the big four, Westpac holds the lowest variable rate at 5.99 per cent compared to its 6.34 per cent fixed option. CBA\u2019s lowest fixed rate is also 6.34 per cent compared to 6.09 per cent for variables.<\/p>\n
The lowest fixed rate on the market is 5.79 per cent by Police Credit Union \u2013 with some sign lenders expect a bit of breathing room before the hike that\u2019s forecast.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that fixed rate hikes are only just now ramping up points to a market that\u2019s expecting a hike, but potentially not until November,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCore inflation has not gone down in the last eight monthly datasets. However, the board will be flying with blinkers on this month, with the next round of inflation data out the day after the meeting wraps up.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Big banks cash rate forecasts. Source: Canstar<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two of Australia\u2019s big four hiked rates Thursday ahead of the Reserve Bank\u2019s September meeting. Australia\u2019s biggest banks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":895065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,63,99,164],"class_list":["post-895064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}