Just a day before the next Reserve Bank Board meeting, which is expected to result in official rates staying as they are, St George Bank announces increases to its variable home loanof 0.1 per cent, taking the rate up to 9.47 per cent.
The bank blames the global mortgage crisis and higher wholesale funding costs for the rise.
The banks spokesman George Beatty has said the decision was not made lightly but was a necessary move in order to recoup come of the higher mortgage funding costs.
"We have sustained increased funding costs for the last nine months," he said.
"However, similar to shop owners who increase prices to reflect the cost of their goods, we also need to reprice loans to reflect the increased cost of funding those loans."
St George Bank has followed other major banks in its move to lift rates - another round of interest rate rises independent of official increases imposed by the Reserve Bank.
Home loan rate have been climbing all year with some home owners now paying close to 10 per cent on some home loans.
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