Cheques and Balances
Will Interest Rates Rise Again? How To Prepare Your Mortgage Now | Episode 481
07 May 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What should mortgage holders know about potential interest rate increases?
We are back causing strife and today we're talking about how to position yourself for the next round of rate increases. It's not if, it's when and I think they're coming pretty soon. So Jessica, long gone are the days of how low will the rates go. From here on out, I reckon we're on the way back up. And the Reserve Bank has kind of indicated that to us anyway, right?
And the market has priced in two rate cuts at least by the end of the year. So reasonably speaking, we think interest rates are going to go up. Now, we had a little chat off camera before we started this. And I said to you, hey, when do your rates roll off? Not August and September, eh? And you said what?
Yep. Yep.
And I said, well, you should probably listen to this one.
So this episode is for people who have a mortgage, are wondering what to do about their interest rates, exactly like me. I'm going to ask Mike the questions. I've got a mortgage and interest rates to worry about as well. So it's going to be perfect for you if you're listening. Now, I bought a house a little while ago now.
What year? I can't remember when I bought mine.
20. I got back from the UK in 2023 and so I think so not the peak not the peak of the interest rate market but getting to the 2021 like 2022 my interest rate was 7.15 that felt peak enough for me that peak of the interest rate cycle yeah that's what I mean yeah that's what I mean yeah that felt very high
That is peak. Yeah, yeah. Right, so you bought at the top of the interest rate cycle. Yes. So that's when you must have taken your mortgages out. And ever since then, they've been going down. If you don't mind me asking, Jess, what interest rate are you on?
I think it's 515. That's actually not too bad. Something like that.
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Chapter 2: How do inflation and oil prices affect my mortgage?
A little bit before then, am I, well, you don't know. Nobody knows.
Yeah.
I'm just thinking back up to that. It's been so nice and quite brief, to be honest, going from like the 7.15 down to my little 5%. Yeah. It's been like great. But I wonder if I'll get back there to the 7%. Yeah.
Well, you potentially could, right? And again, the Reserve Bank will just focus on the inflation piece and they'll do whatever to keep that inflation piece down. They've told us that they will look through a short-term inflation spike, but if that inflation starts seeping out into the economy and becomes systemic, they'll have to increase interest rates.
So we could be in for another round of those 2023-2024 hikes all over again.
Wow, interesting. And so if somebody is in a position like that, like me, what kind of things should they be thinking about to try and mitigate that?
Yeah, you've got to know the numbers, right? So first thing you do is call your bank and go, right, what are my break costs? So the break cost is the cost that you pay to break your loan. It's part of the cost. There's a break fee, which is your admin cost, and then the break cost.
And that break cost is the difference between the interest rate that the bank can sell your money for now and the interest rate that they sold you the money at. So let's say interest rates were... 3% when I bought them. And I bought them for five years. So I took out a five-year fix, right? I get two years in, I go, I don't want this anymore. I want to sell my house or go for another loan.
The bank will look at that and go, oh, hang on a second. Interest rates have gone up. They're 5% now. We bought this at 3%. Don't worry. No break costs. Because we can go out and sell that money in the market again.
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