Reprieve for mortgage holders as RBA leaves interest rates on hold

​At its monthly meeting on Tuesday, the RBA board left the official cash rate unchanged at 4.10%.​

PropTrack Senior Economist Paul Ryan said the RBA judged that recent data on the labour market and inflation was in line with its expectations, and opted to wait for additional data on inflationary pressures and productivity growth, in particular. 

“Nevertheless, the RBA signalled that more tightening may be needed to rein in inflation, with many expecting another hike – the 13th since May 2022 – to come as early as next month,” he said.

“More tightening is expected to be needed to bring inflation back to the RBA's target, but rates are close to their peak, which is good news for the housing market.”

The housing market has so far shown remarkable resilience to sharply higher interest rates, Mr Ryan said.

The PropTrack Home Price Index revealed Australian home prices jumped again in June, rising 0.3% month-on-month.

National prices were now just 0.1% lower than they were a year ago, and across the capitals, prices were now higher than at the same time last year.

“Despite rates now at levels not seen since 2012, home prices increased further in June, and are up 2.3% over 2023 so far,” Mr Ryan said.

“Offsetting higher mortgage rates, strong buyer demand has been focused on a slower flow of new property listings and led to price increases. 

“Forward indicators point to further home price growth in the months ahead. But continued higher interest rates remain a risk for the housing market.

“At some point, eroded borrowing capacities and weaker economic conditions brought about by higher interest rates may lead to price falls, as seen in 2022.”

Homeowners to breathe a sigh of relief following pause

Angus Raine, Raine & Horne Property Group executive chairman, said with inflation figures looking much healthier hopefully the RBA will now take their foot off the “interest increase pedal.”

“It's really great news. People - mum and dad Australians - can sit down and probably plan a more short, or medium, and longer term view on what they're doing with their Australian real estate,” he said.

“Listings in the market are just at an all-time low. So there has to be a shakeout, whether for positive reasons or not so positive, it means there could be opportunities for buyers out there.”

Homeowners around Australia will be breathing a sigh of relief following the RBA’s decision after 12 cash rate increases since May 2022, Mortgage Choice chief executive Anthony Waldron said.

“We’ve seen borrowers rushing to get a better deal during June, before many lenders stopped their cashback offers on 30 June,” he said.

“Mortgage Choice home loan submission data shows the biggest spike in refinancing activity this year, with 52% of all loans submitted by Mortgage Choice brokers in June being refinance transactions.”

It remained to be seen if there were more rate rises to come, Mr Waldron said, but the start of a new financial year was a great time for mortgage holders to meet with their broker and review their home loan to ensure they were getting the best possible deal.

Another rate hike expected as soon as next month

Property analyst and commentator Gavin Hegney said the RBA’s decision was simply saying, ‘Take a breath this month,’ as a rise was likely next month.

He said it was important to note that while interest rates affected how much money one could borrow, people were still prepared to borrow.

“Where we are leading with this is, is to an increase in unemployment because one person’s spending is another person's income,” he said.

“That's two thirds of our economy. The important thing about that, is that people cutting back on spending in certain areas will lead to unemployment in those areas and that still doesn't have the effect.

“The real effect on the property market is when people are scared of losing their jobs and if you see unemployment rise, and then people are scared of losing their jobs in those sectors you'll see them pull back all together and then they don't want to borrow no matter what the interest rate.

“So, fear of unemployment is the real thing to watch for residential property markets, not so much just the price of money.”

Originally published at: https://www.realestate.com.au/news/reprieve-for-mortgage-holders-as-rba-leaves-interest-rates-on-hold/