Being the first Tuesday of the month again – don’t they come around quickly! – the Reserve Bank board met again today to decide whether or not to raise the cash rate. Before the meeting, pretty much everybody in financial circles had agreed that there was no chance at all they would raise the rate (and last time everybody said that, they surprised us and did it!). Fortunately today the general punters were right, and the Reserve Bank has decided to allow the cash rate to remain unchanged at 4.75 per cent..... Keep Reading »

Since today is the first Tuesday of the month, the Reserve Bank met again and made a decision on whether or not to raise interest rates. And the verdict is good for us mortgage holders – the official cash rate has remained on hold which means it is unlikely that any banks will increase their interest rates. And since there is no meeting held in January, that means we know where we stand with home loan repayments until at least February 2011..... Keep Reading »

It’s probably inevitable that with a cash rate rise from the Reserve Bank and the subsequent interest rate rises on home loans – especially from some banks like the Commonwealth Bank whic hiked their rate by almost double the Reserve Bank’s increase – there will be home loan customers who are thinking about switching to a different home loan, hoping for a better deal..... Keep Reading »

Were you busy watching the Melbourne Cup this afternoon? Perhaps even participating in a few Cup-related festivities? Even over here in Perth, most people I know were enjoying a Melbourne Cup lunch – the 3pm race in Victoria means it runs at midday here – and certainly nobody else I know was paying any attention to what the Reserve Bank or the big four banks were up to..... Keep Reading »

If you’ve got a home loan and you live in Sydney, then unfortunately you win as belonging to the group of Australians suffering most from mortgage stress at the moment. Mortgage holders in Brisbane and Melbourne, on the other hand, are apparently in the best situation, all according to a recent Moody’s survey..... Keep Reading »

If you’d been reading The Australian newspaper’s website last week instead of ours, you might have thought for a short time that the Reserve Bank had raised the cash rate after all. According to the clever nit-picker that is Media Watch, The Australian obviously had a “interest rates have risen” story ready to go the second the Reserve Bank announced a change – as many had expected them too – but then they kept rates on hold! In some kind of technological confusion, The Australian still managed to publish an article saying that we would be paying more for our home loans. Thank goodness they were wrong!.... Keep Reading »

Another sigh of relief for my back pocket as the Reserve Bank made a decision on Tuesday to leave the cash rate unchanged! Shortly before their Tuesday meeting the odds seemed to be on a rate rise, and the major banks sound like they were all very keen for there to be an increase – they are complaining about the higher deposit rates and lower mortgage rates that they are currently dealing with (and not liking). However, none of the major banks wanted to be “the bad guy” who put up interest rates despite the Reserve Bank leaving the rate unchanged, so that means that for now at least, we don’t need to pay out any extra for our home loan repayments..... Keep Reading »

After having so many interest rate rises over the past twelve months, it’s been quite a pleasure since May to not be anxious about the increase of my monthly mortgage repayment, since the Reserve Bank (and fortunately, my bank too) have seen fit to keep rates stable. But it’s probably not safe to assume that this pleasant state of being will continue indefinitely: or is it?.... Keep Reading »

There was no interest rate rise at the August meeting of the Reserve Bank: and snap, same again this week, again the cash rate has remained at 4.50 per cent after the Reserve Bank board got together for their first Tuesday in September meeting..... Keep Reading »

So, the Reserve Bank board members have got together again and decided that at least for now, the official cash rate won’t rise and that looks like meaning that our home loan interest rates will stay the same for at least another month, too. .... Keep Reading »

When I was reading the paper on the weekend I can’t say it made my day to see this headline: Warning: Your mortgage is going up. This story was carried by all the major papers across Australia and the headline was enough to make me more than a little concerned, despite having heard that an interest rate rise wasn’t likely until after the election at the earliest..... Keep Reading »

Here’s some good news for mortgage holders worried about more interest rate rises in the near future: the banks are all saying that they won’t raise interest rates until after the federal election. Of course, we don’t yet know how soon the federal election could be – late next month is a common tip at the moment – but it could even be later than that, and the later it is, the more reprieve we home loan customers have on increased repayments..... Keep Reading »

Surveys are showing that as individuals, mortgage holders like me are more pessimistic than the experts about how many interest rate rises we are going to have to pay out for in the next year or so. I guess those of us who are the ones who’ll have to dig deeper in our pockets are more likely to be concerned about this, and it translates into statistics stating that consumers believe there will be at least three rises in interest rates in the next twelve months..... Keep Reading »

There are two big items in the mortgage news this week: for those of us already in the mortgage market, I’m looking at whether or not we can afford to pay higher interest rates, and if you’re someone who’s waiting to buy their first property and are trying to get a mortgage, there’s news about more home loan applications getting knocked back..... Keep Reading »

Phew. We’ve survived another start of the month Reserve Bank meeting without having to reach into our pockets and hand over more hard earned cash to the bank in the form of higher interest payments. The Reserve Bank met on Tuesday and decided, as many experts had tipped they would, to keep the cash rate at the same level for this month, and possibly another two or three months. And that’s good news for anyone with a mortgage or those of you looking to jump into a home loan in the near future..... Keep Reading »