Homeowners kept guessing on mortgage repayments
The Reserve Bank of Australia raised the official cash rate after the day and that homeowners are still anxiously waiting to see what effect it will have on their mortgage repayments.
Even the major banks say they are still reviewing their standard variable rates. The 25-basis-point official increase should mean that borrowers with an average $300,000 mortgage pay around an extra $46 per month. Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan reiterated on Wednesday that he expected the banks not to pass on any more than the official increase, which took the cash rate to 3.25 per cent.
“I’ve made it very clear the government expects the banks to behave in the way in which they should behave and the way in which they’ve traditionally behaved. That is, that they will pass on the official cash rate increase and no more,” Mr Swan told reporters in Brisbane on Wednesday.
The big four - ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac - account for 85 per cent of home loans in Australia.
Business groups continued to argue that the RBA’s rate rise was premature, while Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull said it strengthened the case for winding back the government’s economic stimulus as fiscal policy was now working against monetary policy.
“We have Wayne Swan saying the Paris Hilton spending from the Rudd government has to continue with renewed energy,” Mr Turnbull told reporters in Melbourne.
New data released on Wednesday showed that demand for mortgages from first-time buyers was already waning in August, well before the first official rate rise in 19 months and the winding back of the government’s more generous housing grant at the start of October.
