‘Rate stampede’: 338 hiked in one week – only two left below 5.75pc

October 7, 2026

2 Views 0

SaveSavedRemoved 0

The big four are now split down the middle over whether there will be one more hike within weeks.

Aussie homeowners are facing a massive interest rate shock as banks unleash a wild repricing frenzy – jacking up 338 home loan products in just seven days – with more to come.

Just over a week after the Reserve Bank gut-punched homeowners with the fourth rate hike of the year – taking the cash rate to its highest level since late 2011 of 4.60 per cent – lenders are aggressively reworking their boards.

Markets are now pricing in a 24 per cent chance of a rate hike in November. Source: ASX

Latest Canstar data shows 17 lenders hiked a massive 289 fixed rates in just seven days – by an average of 0.24 percentage points – while seven others pushed through 49 variable rate increases.

That’s a staggering weekly total of 338 rate hikes across owner-occupier and investor loans.

Canstar group manager of research Josh Sale said “last week’s RBA hike has set off a wave of repricing” – warning of much more to come.

“On the variable side, the pass-through has only just begun, with seven lenders moving 49 rates so far,” he said.

“The fixed moves are the ones to watch, because lenders are not just passing on September’s hike. Banks are pricing in higher bond yields and the real possibility of another hike, with central banks from the US to Europe and Japan all tightening through September.”

Many lenders are yet to announce their response to the new cash rate target.

Canstar’s database shows just two variable interest rates below 5.75 per cent remain across the entire country – and even those will be gone in next to no time.

“Variable borrowers should treat the next few weeks as a moving target,” Mr Sale said.

“Most lenders are yet to announce their response to the new 4.60 per cent cash rate … Expect a steady stream of repricing over the coming weeks, and the two variable rates still sitting below 5.75 per cent on Canstar’s database are unlikely to survive it.”

Households are near breaking point after four rate hikes in 2026 – in February, March, May and September – with a $600,000 loan seeing total repayments rise by $364 a month compared to what it was in January.

Repayments on a $750,000 loan now sit $454 a month higher than they were at the start of the year, while a $1m loan is up $606 for the same time frame.

Owner occupied P &! rate movement summary. Source: Canstar

The big four banks have split in half over whether there will be another rate hike before the year is out – with CBA and NAB thinking we have peak and will remain there until August next year, while Westpac and ANZ have pencilled in another 0.25 per cent hike for November.

That would take the cash rate target to a crushing 4.85 per cent if it happened.

Mr Sale said “whether a fifth hike follows is now a live question. The September inflation figures, due October 28, will go a long way to settling it.”

The rises do have some winners – with cash savers seeing higher returns as 13 providers lifted 45 term deposit rates by an average of 0.47 percentage points – almost double the RBA move.

“The good news is the hike is reaching savers quickly, and then some,” Mr Sale said.

“With repricing still rolling through, savers who have not checked their rate since the hike are leaving money on the table.”