NAB catches up on mortgage rates

It has taken the best part of three months but finally National Australia Bank's picked up the message from its competitors - and no doubt heard the internal demand of line management with profit hurdles to meet and bonuses to protect - and lifted its variable interest rates toward the upper end of the range set by its peers.

NAB lifted its variable rate by nine basis points to 9.36 per cent. This is one basis point lower than the rate applied by ANZ and St George, but higher than Westpac, at 9.27 per cent and Commonwealth, at 9.32 per cent. No doubt the latter two will seek to massage their variable rates a few basis points higher before long.

Back in January NAB was the first of the major banks to overcome months of hesitation and increase the margin on home loans, but then, as with the most recent round of rate rises, the extra margin the bank announced was pretty timid given the rise in wholesale rates and the impatience of other banks for one of them to get moving and set a new price benchmark.

As a result there's been more variation in variable rate home loans in recent months than has been typical for probably a decade.