Economic News

Five weeks separate the Reserve Bank's last two monetary policy decisions. Both delivered the same outcome, a 25 basis point increase in the cash rate target. Yet the votes behind them look very different. In September, the Board was unanimous in lifting the rate …

Inflation is not only about what prices are doing today. It is also about what people believe prices will do tomorrow. When households, businesses and workers come to expect higher inflation, they tend to behave in ways that make it happen: firms set prices …

Most of aMonetary Policystatement deals in numbers: the cash rate, the inflation rate, the forecasts. Every so often, though, a sentence reveals something about the Board's state of mind. On 3 November 2026, as it lifted the cash rate target by 25 basis points …

When the cash rate target moves, the question many households ask is simple: what does it mean for my repayments? The Reserve Bank'sMonetary PolicyBoard lifted the target by 25 basis points to 4.85% on 3 November 2026, effective 4 November. Lenders set their ownMortgagerates, …

Variable-rate borrowers woke up on Melbourne Cup Day to another increase in the cost of money. At 2.30 pm AEDT on 3 November 2026, theMonetary PolicyBoard announced it had lifted the cash rate target by 25 basis points, from 4.60% to 4.85%, effective from …

About 10 cents in every dollar of household disposable income. That was the share going to scheduledMortgagepayments when the Reserve Bank'sMonetary PolicyBoard met in late September, according to the minutes of that meeting. The minutes described the ratio as being around its 2024 peak.

Interest rate decisions are often described as if they land on everyone in the same way. They do not. When theMonetary PolicyBoard lifted the cash rate target from 4.60% to 4.85% on 3 November 2026, effective 4 November, the change began working through the …