Macquarie Bank, the nation's fifth-largest home lender, announced on Tuesday it would pass on the central bank's 25-basis-point increase in full, with the change taking effect from October 15. Savers with deposits in many of the bank's accounts will receive the same increase.
"For any customers concerned about making their home loan repayments, we encourage them to get in touch, as financial assistance may be available," said Macquarie personal banking chief Ben Perham.
Head of Australian bank research at UBS, John Storey, said it was all but inevitable that the big banks would follow suit. "I think it's a fait accompli, unfortunately," Storey said.
While the rate rise will bite for mortgage holders, federal data shows the nation's total offset account balances remain near record highs. Data released by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority on September 17 shows that for the quarter ending in June, Australian offset balances stood at $340 billion. That is up about $39 billion on the same period a year before, but down from $349 billion recorded in the March quarter of 2026.
Spending and labour market resilience has played into the Reserve Bank's thinking on rates to date and, some analysts expect, could support the case for further rate rises that could exacerbate early signs of stress in parts of the economy.