The punters are right! No RBA rate change on Melbourne Cup

The RBA Board has left the official cash rate at a steady 2.5% for the race that stops a nation. 

Governor Glenn Stevens said in a statement that overall financial conditions remain very accommodative. “Interest rates are very low and have continued to edge lower over the past year or so as competition to lend has increased. Investors continue to look for higher returns in response to low rates on safe instruments.”

While rates have remained steady since August 2013 a move is expected some time in 2015, depending on how the global economy, housing market and employment plays out.

Home loan winners

So which providers bolted to the finish line with competitive home loan interest rates?

The front runner in the variable rate race for home loans over $500,000 is eMoney who slashed its prime Full Doc 80 loan rates by 10 basis points to 4.45%. Following by the length of a nose, Suncorp has trimmed the rates on its Home Package Plus loan, now starting from 4.69% for LVR’s less than 80%.

While Newcastle Permanent increased its 1 year fixed rate by 10 basis points to 3.89%, it’s still the lowest fixed rate home loan on the market. In the Big Four bank race for 4 year fixed rate home loans, it was a dead heat between NAB and Westpac at 4.99%, followed by Commonwealth at 5.09% and ANZ at 5.49%.

See other star performers in the home loan world here.

Savings account stayers

The low cash rate has been tough on savers, with providers slashing savings account rates further. UBank has cut its USaver with Ultra from 4.17% to 4.02% (still the highest rate in the market) and all of the Big Four banks have recently made cuts to their savings rates, with CommBank making the largest reduction of 16 basis points to 3.65% on its GoalSaver.

While no savings accounts have gone up there are a few stayers that still offer competitive interest rates, such as the ING DIRECT Savings Maximiser, RaboDirect’s 90 Day Notice Saver and Bankwest Hero Saver all with a 4% interest rate (conditions apply).

See the full rundown of savings account deals here.