The Reserve Bank has this week lifted interest rates for the fifth month in a row, increasing the cash rate by 0.5 percentage points to 2.35%, the highest level since 2015.
Commentators are now suggesting that, while further increases are expected, they are likely to slow over the coming months.
NAB Chief Economist Ivan Calhoun noted that Governor Philip Lowe referred to ‘normalising’ interest rates – that is, it was never viable that they could stay at the all-time lows of the past two years – and he is now waiting to see the ‘full effects of higher interest rates yet to be felt in mortgage payments’ amongst other indicators.
