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ANZ first to change mortgage rates

by Rachel Seymour 8/10/2009

 ANZ lifts home loan interest rates

 ANZ is the first lender to announce increases to their standard variable home loan rates and fixed rate home loans.

The bank has today announced that its variable rate mortgage will rise 25 basis points to 6.06 per cent, effective from Monday 12 October.

ANZ's one and two-year fixed rate home loans are also rising by 25 basis points. However, there is one loan that will see a rate cut, with the bank announcing they will cut 10-year fixed loan interest rates by 0.25 percentage points.

The bank is the first to move following Tuesday's official rate rise from the Reserve Bank of Australia.  The Reserve Bank moved to raise the official cash rate for the first time in 19 months, by 25 basis points.  The cash rate is now 3.25 per cent.

These increases to home loans add around $50 per month extra to repayments on a $350,000 mortgage over 25 years. 

Other areas of ANZ banking have also been reviewed.

The bank said it would raise rates on "selected deposit accounts" while keeping credit card interest rates under review.

 All other major banks have yet to comment.  Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Westpac all say their rates are still under review following the RBA rate rise.

At present, the Commonwealth Bank and NAB offer a standard variable rate of 5.74 per cent, while Westpac offers a variable rate seven points higher at 5.81 per cent.

When the RBA increased official rates on Tuesday, the financial markets were surprised, but not shocked.  During recent weeks, many economists had been predicting a rate rise by years end, with most targeting November for the first rate hike.  However, during the days leading up to the RBA's monthly policy meeting, some forecasts had started to change to suspect an October rate rise. 

New unemployment figures are due out today, and the data from these could affect the Reserve Bank's November rate decision.

With interest rate on the rise, home owners are hurrying to see if they could benefit from fixing their home loan rate now.  Demand for fixed rate home loans has soared in the past few weeks, as borrowers prepare for more rate rises.


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source: ABC Online
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