By Brad Smith on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 1:42 PM

The Reserve Bank has concluded its March board meeting with the announcement that it will increase interest rates by 25 basis points to the new cash rate of 4.00%.

This is the first rate change since December 2009 and is sure to add further concern to recent reports around rising mortgage stress in the country.

The rate rise will add about $46 to the average monthly payment for a typical 25-year, $300,000 mortgage assuming the major lenders pass on the full impact of the rise as expected.

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