One of Australia’s big four banks has announced major increases to its fixed-rate home loan and investment property loan interest rates.
The increases come after the Reserve Bank lifted the OCR by 0.5% at September’s board meeting.
Westpac raised the rates on all its fixed-rate home loans by 50 basis points for both owner-occupiers and investors, both for new and existing customers, with the fixed rate on a one-year owner-occupier loan now at 5.19%, from 4.69%, news.com.au reported.
“We understand that many Australians are carefully managing their household budgets at this time and we’re here to support our customers through the changing interest rate cycle,” said Chris de Bruin, Westpac consumer and business banking chief executive. “When we review our interest rates, we seek to balance the needs of multiple stakeholders including home loan and deposit customers. We also consider several factors including the increase to the cash rate, competitive environment, and the performance of our business.”
Claire Frawley, Mozo personal finance expert, said lenders were becoming more “unpredictable” with their rate moves, news.com.au reported.
“While we have seen variable rates rise after all the RBA rate hikes, fixed rates have been more unpredictable, with some lenders moving out of cycle,” she said. “In August, we saw 29 lenders cut some or all their fixed rates, including two of the big four banks. Commonwealth Bank reduced their four-year fixed rates by 160 basis points and Westpac their four-year rates by 100 basis points.”
