Will they? Or won’t they? They haven’t since April 2016, and they didn’t today. The Reserve Bank of Australia has once again met and decided to keep interest rates on hold – the official cash rate is still a record low of 1.5%. Pundits predict little movement – if any – for the rest of the year.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), it is expected that the economy will continue to grow at a robust pace of around 3%. It also said, “monetary policy remains supportive”.
Put those low interest rates to good use
Now that winter has settled in, why don’t you do some homework and see if you can pay off your mortgage sooner. Because interest on a home loan is calculated on the daily balance and charged to the loan account monthly in arrears, even paying one dollar a day more onto your mortgage will reduce the term of your loan.
Do you pay your mortgage monthly? If you change that to fortnightly, you’ll be making one extra payment per year (there are 26 fortnights per year), so not only are you paying back the full amount of your home much quicker, you’re also reducing the amount of interest you’ll accrue over the lifetime of the mortgage.
There are a number of other ways to save money while interest rates are so low, on what is by far your biggest asset. Why not give your mortgage broker a call and ask to review your mortgage?