CBA has hiked fixed rates for new owner-occupier and investor customers by up to 0.48 percentage points, a move Canstar says is nearly double the size of a standard Reserve Bank (RBA) cash rate increase, landing just seven days before the RBA's next decision, where all four major banks now expect a hike.
Canstar modelling suggests a borrower with a $600,000 mortgage and 25 years remaining could save around $776 in interest over the next year by choosing the lowest one-year fixed rate over the lowest variable rate, based on CBA's forecast of one more RBA hike this month followed by two cuts from August 2027. That gap widens to $2,022 if two further hikes eventuate instead of the forecast cuts.
The bank's two-year fixed rate rose from 6.34% to 6.82%, the largest increase across its fixed terms. Other terms rose between 0.15 and 0.30 percentage points, with the one-year rate now at 6.78% and the 5-year at 6.94%.
Canstar data insights director Sally Tindall said the scale of the move sent a clear message.
"A 0.48 percentage point increase isn't a tweak," Tindall said.
Canstar's tracking shows 16 lenders have now lifted at least one fixed rate in September alone.
Despite the broader repricing, seven lenders remain on Canstar's database with at least one fixed rate still starting with a 5 for owner-occupiers, led by Police Credit Union's 5.79% one-year rate. The lowest overall rate on the database is a 5.69% variable offer from Pacific Mortgage Group.
With sub-6% fixed offers increasingly confined to smaller lenders and the big four pushing well past 6.5%, brokers have a narrowing window to place rate-sensitive clients before the RBA's decision, and a case to make for shopping beyond the big four.
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