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.

Visit HelpMeChoose.com.au and run our home loan comparison today to make sure you are getting the best deal on your existing home loan.

By Brad Smith on Thursday, February 25, 2010 2:08 PM

With the Reserve Bank opting to leave interest rates at 3.75% in its February meeting, all eyes now turn to the March 2nd RBA Board meeting, and the question of whether we'll see rates left as they are or perhaps lifted by 25 or even 50 basis points. Despite recent strong indications from Reserve Bank Governor Glen Stevens that there would be a number of rate increases in 2010, most pundits seem to suggest that the March board meeting will opt to leave things as they are for another month.

Typically the Reserve Bank makes its rate decisions based around inflationary expectations and with inflation tipped to drop back into its target band of 2-3%, this could help keep rates steady at 3.75 per cent for another month.

Chief economist at UBS, Scott Haslem, was today quoted in The Age suggesting "We expect a 'less now, more later' bias to the RBA moves,". This was supported by Helen Kevans, a senior economist at JPMorgan, also in The Age today who said " ... Read More »

By Brad Smith on Tuesday, February 02, 2010 1:46 PM

The RBA has just concluded their February 2010 meeting and resolved to keep interest rates on hold for another month.

The decision has surprised some, with most pundits predicting that the late 2009 trend of 3 consecutive rate increases would continue into the new year with a further quarter percent rise. The central bank however cited excessive hikes by the banks in response to the December RBA increase as one of the reasons for maintaining the status quo.

No doubt an increasingly mortgage stressed public will be breathing somewhat of a sigh of relief with the cash rate maintained at 3.75%.

By Brad Smith on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 10:49 AM

Consumers are frightened and are moving to fix their home loan interest rates in the wake of the decision by three of the big four banks to increase their rates, according to the CEO of leading comparison web site www.helpmechoose.com.au.

CEO and Founder of HelpMeChoose.com.au, Dr Adir Shiffman, says “fixed rates have roared back into calculation because borrowers are fearful banks will continue to unpredictably raise their interest rates.
Read More »

By Brad Smith on Tuesday, May 19, 2009 9:33 AM

Over 4000 Australians a week are taking up private health insurance according to a leaked report by the independent but publicly funded Private Health Insurance Administration Council. Over the 12 month period to March 2009 an extra 225,000 people took up private cover. This news has come despite warnings from insurers and the Federal Opposition that the changes announced in the 2008 budget would pressure the public system by forcing people to abandon private cover. Read More »

By Brad Smith on Tuesday, May 12, 2009 9:29 PM

News from tonight's federal budget that will come as a pleasant (but not entirely unanticipated) surprise for 1st home buyers, the real estate industry and finance brokers. The Government has announced an extension to the deadline of the increased First Home Owners' Boost for a further 3 months (beyond June 30) followed by a reduced version of the grant for another 3 months to 31st December 2009. Read More »

By Brad Smith on Tuesday, May 05, 2009 3:09 PM

Breaking News: The Reserve Bank (RBA) has just concluded its May board meeting and as has been widely anticipated over the past few weeks, the decision was made not to make any change to interest rates for the month of May, leaving the official cash rate at 3.00%. Read More »

By Brad Smith on Tuesday, April 28, 2009 3:53 PM

Currently, only people with mortgages of less than $312,400 are able to negotiate 'repayment holidays' to assist the recently unemployed, but there are reports today that the federal government is looking to broaden the reach of the benefits by increasing the minimum mortgage size to $500,000. Read More »

By Brad Smith on Friday, April 24, 2009 11:44 AM

Following on from yesterday’s comments by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd that the 1st Home Owners’ Boost would come to an end on June 30, there are fresh reports this morning that the scheme may continue beyond that date after all. Sydney’s Daily Telegraph newspaper has reported that the federal government will extend the scheme in the upcoming May Budget according to “insiders”, although Rudd continues to hose down this speculation Read More »

By Brad Smith on Thursday, April 23, 2009 2:51 PM

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd appeared today to settle the recent debate on whether or not his government would look to cash in on the popularity and success of the 1st Home Owners’ Boost payments by declaring that this would indeed come to an end as initially planned on June 30th 2009. The national scheme, introduced in October 2008 as an extension to the State Governments’ First Home Owners’ Grant payments, sees first home buyers building a new dwelling receiving a cash boost of $21,000 (in total) and those purchasing an existing dwelling receiving a total of $14,000. Read More »