The Reserve Bank lifts interest rates earlier than expected

Remember last year when the Reserve Bank cut official interest rates to a record 0.1% and said it wouldn’t lift them until “at least” 2024? But as borrowers may have noticed, fixed interest rates have started to creep up in recent months, particularly for longer terms of four and five years, for example.

In early July, researcher RateCity found a growing list of lenders had also started raising their two- and three-year fixed rates with sub-2% three-year loans disappearing fast.

As fixed-rate loans reflect expectations for future interest rates, most analysts believe we have passed the bottom of the interest rate cycle, though