Morning Briefing: Interest rate rise warnings begin to stack up

Another prominent voice in the mortgage industry has warned borrowers to brace themselves for additional interest rate rises... Auction volumes on the up after Easter break...

Interest rate rise warnings begin to stack up
Another prominent voice in the mortgage industry has warned borrowers to brace themselves for additional interest rate rises in the near future.

Peter White, chief executive officer of the Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA) believes current regulatory requirement and funding costs faced by Australian lenders combined with other factors such as the rising Australian dollar have created conditions that are ripe for a rate rise.

“This is really the perfect storm for interest rate rises as banks look at softening the jump in the wholesale cost of funds that they lend out, like mortgage-backed securities and bonds,” White said.

“Those with money deposited in banks should be happy their interest rates have risen slightly but the flipside is the borrower will possibly have to carry the cost with an increase in home loan mortgage rates,” he said.

White’s prediction follows that of John Kolenda, head of mortgage broking network 1300HomeLoan, who made a similar prediction earlier this week.

Auction volumes on the up after Easter break
Auction volumes across Australia have almost tripled compared to the subdued numbers seen last week thanks to the Easter break.

Figures from CoreLogic RP Data show that 1,428 auctions are currently being tracked compared to the 554 held last week.

Last week’s national clearance rate managed to break past the 70% mark, finalising at 70.9%.

This week’s increase has been spread across the country, with all capital cities registering an increase in volumes.

Sydney is the nation’s busiest market for the second straight week, with 595 auctions scheduled compared to last week’s 349.