Fixed rate rises follow a run of lender hikes this month
NAB and ANZ have both lifted fixed home loan rates by as much as 0.2 percentage points, just 12 days out from the Reserve Bank's (RBA) next cash rate decision, new data from financial comparison site Canstar shows.
The moves push both banks' lowest advertised fixed rates to 6.49%. NAB's one-year fixed rate rose from 6.44% to 6.59%, while its two-, three-, four-, and five-year rates each climbed 0.15 percentage points. ANZ's changes were similarly broad-based, with its two-year fixed rate jumping 0.20 percentage points to 6.49%.
Fixed rates begin to shift
Despite the rise in fixed pricing, variable loans remain markedly cheaper. CBA and Westpac hold the lowest fixed rates among the big four at 6.34%, but this still sits well above their variable offers of 6.09% and 5.99%, respectively.
Borrower behaviour reflects that gap: Canstar data shows 90% of lenders' lowest advertised rates are variable among those offering both loan types, and CBA's full-year results show just 7% of new lending in the six months to June 2026 went to fixed-rate products.
Smaller lenders continue to undercut the majors on fixed pricing, led by Police Credit Union at 5.79% for a one-year fixed loan and Police Bank at 5.84% for a three-year term.
Lenders slowly starting to move
The hikes follow a run of fixed-rate increases from other lenders. ING lifted its fixed rates by 0.2 percentage points the day before, taking its lowest offer to 6.39%, while Macquarie made a similar move the previous week, also landing at 6.39%. Nine lenders have now raised fixed rates in September alone.
Canstar's data insights director, Sally Tindall, said the pattern pointed to growing expectations of a rate rise.
"Today's fixed rate hikes from two of Australia's biggest banks is yet another sign another RBA cash rate hike is waiting in the wings," Tindall said.
Even so, the scale of movement remains modest by historical standards: in the lead-up to the RBA's last cash rate rise in May, 60 banks increased fixed rates in the preceding month alone.
Big four split on timing, not direction
All four major banks now expect the RBA's next move to be a hike, though they disagree on when. CBA, Westpac, and ANZ are tipping a 0.25 percentage point rise in November, while NAB has broken ranks, forecasting the hike will land at the RBA's 29 September meeting.
Tindall pointed to persistent core inflation as the reason the timing debate remains live.
"Core inflation has not gone down in the last eight monthly datasets," she said.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics' latest Consumer Price Index release showed annual headline inflation easing to 3.5% in the 12 months to July 2026, while the RBA's preferred trimmed mean measure held at 3.6% for a second straight month.
