Cash rate steady, mortgage rates up
The Reserve Bank may have decided not to make any change to the cash rate but lenders have been busy adjusting their owner-occupier variable mortgage rates over the past month.According to comparison site Mozo, 13 lenders increased their owner occupier variable rates last month and five reduced them. Six lenders increased their investor variable rates and one reduced it. The link between the cash rate and mortgage rates has been well and truly severed. Aussie Home Loans increased owner-occupier variable rates on its Optimiser and Optimiser Plus loans by 20 basis points to 4.24 per cent.Auswide Bank increased the owner-occupier variable rate of its Special Discount Home Loan Plus Freedom package by 21 bps to 4.19 per cent for loans with loan-to-valuation ratios up to 80 per cent. For loans with LVRs above 80 per cent the increase was ten bps.Bankwest increased the rate on its Complete Home Loan by 14 bps to 4.22 per cent.ME introduced a 30 bps premium for all variable rate loans with LVRs greater than 80 per cent.Newcastle Permanent increased all variable loans by 20 bps, except for the Premium Plus loan, which went up ten bps.QPCU increased the rate on its Discounted Classic Home Loan by 20 bps for borrowers paying interest only.Yellow Brick Road increased its Rate Smasher variable rate by 16 bps to 4.07 per cent and its Empower rate by 21 bps to 4.25 per cent.A smaller number of lenders cut owner-occupier variable rates. They were Citibank, Illawarra Home Loans, IMB Bank and ING DirectA number of lenders also made changes to variable rates for investors. Aussie reduced investor rates, while Australian Unity, Bank of Queensland, Big Sky, Credit Union SA, CUA and Qantas Credit Union increased them.