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Kooky
Builder of Shaka, the payment router that pays every agent their commission on closing date.
About Kooky and Shaka →National Australia Bank and ANZ both raised their fixed home loan rates on Thursday 17 September 2026, the trade publication MPA reported the same day. NAB lifted its one-year fixed rate from 6.44 per cent to 6.59 per cent and added the same 0.15 percentage points to its two, three, four and five-year rates. ANZ raised its two-year fixed rate by 0.20 points to 6.49 per cent, which is now its lowest advertised fixed rate.
They bring to nine the number of lenders that have raised fixed rates in September, on MPA's count, with ING and Macquarie among the others. None of this changes what any existing borrower pays today. It is a reading of where lenders think the cash rate is heading, taken twelve days before the Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy Board meets on 28 and 29 September.
MPA, 17 September 2026, citing Canstar's rate database. Rates are advertised rates for owner-occupiers and can differ by deposit and product.
The moves in detail
MPA's report, drawn from the comparison site Canstar, sets out where the larger lenders now stand. ING lifted its fixed rates by 0.2 percentage points to 6.39 per cent, and Macquarie's are also at 6.39 per cent. Among the four major banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac now have the lowest fixed rates, at 6.34 per cent.
The lowest fixed rates in the market are well below those. Police Credit Union offers a one-year fixed rate of 5.79 per cent, and Police Bank a three-year rate of 5.84 per cent, according to the same report.
| Lender | Rate | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Police Credit Union | 5.79% | One-year fixed, lowest in the market |
| Westpac | 5.99% | Variable |
| Commonwealth Bank | 6.09% | Variable |
| Commonwealth Bank, Westpac | 6.34% | Lowest fixed among the big four |
| ING, Macquarie | 6.39% | Fixed |
| ANZ | 6.49% | Two-year fixed, up 0.20 points |
| NAB | 6.59% | One-year fixed, up 0.15 points |
Canstar data as reported by MPA on 17 September 2026.
The table shows the feature that defines this market. At the two major banks whose variable rates the report gives, the variable rate is lower than the fixed one: 5.99 per cent against 6.34 per cent at Westpac, and 6.09 per cent against 6.34 per cent at Commonwealth Bank. MPA reports that for 90 per cent of lenders, the lowest advertised rate is a variable rate.
Related readQueensland refinancing enquiries fall 8.8 per cent in a yearWhy fixed rates move before the Reserve Bank does
A variable rate follows the cash rate. When the Reserve Bank moves, lenders usually pass the change on within a few weeks. A fixed rate works differently, because the lender is promising a price for one to five years and has to fund that promise today.
Lenders raise much of the money for fixed loans in wholesale markets, at rates that reflect what investors expect the cash rate to average over the fixed period. If those investors come to expect a higher cash rate, the cost of fixed funding rises that day, whether or not the Reserve Bank has done anything. The lender then lifts its fixed rates to match. Fixed rates are, in effect, the market's forecast with a margin added.
That is why a round of fixed rate increases before a meeting is read as a signal. Canstar's data insights director, Sally Tindall, told MPA that increases from two of the country's biggest banks were another sign that a rise in the cash rate was waiting in the wings.
The inflation figures point the same way. Annual headline inflation was 3.5 per cent in the twelve months to July, and the trimmed mean, the underlying measure the Reserve Bank watches most closely, was 3.6 per cent for a second month, MPA notes. Both are above the Bank's target band of 2 to 3 per cent. The minutes of the Board's August meeting, published on 25 August, recorded that members had considered an increase then and saw the risks to inflation as lying on the upside.
Related readAugust minutes: a fourth rate rise was weighed as loan demand droppedWhat the banks expect
The cash rate has been 4.35 per cent since the third increase of the year in May. The Board held it there in June and again on 11 August.
According to MPA, the economists at three of the major banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and ANZ, now forecast a further rise of 0.25 percentage points in November. NAB's economists expect it sooner, at the meeting that ends on 29 September. That is a shift from late August, when The Adviser reported that Commonwealth Bank and ANZ both still had a hold as their central forecast.
A forecast is not a decision, and bank economists have been wrong in both directions this year. What the fixed rate moves add is evidence that the banks' own treasuries, which set prices with real money, are positioned the same way as their economists.
Why so few borrowers are fixing
When fixed rates sit above variable rates, fixing means paying more from the first day in exchange for certainty. Most borrowers are declining the trade. MPA reports that only 7 per cent of Commonwealth Bank's new home lending in the six months to June 2026 went into fixed rate loans.
The arithmetic explains the reluctance. Take a principal-and-interest loan of $751,000 over 30 years, the average for a new owner-occupier loan in Queensland in June according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The figures below use the standard loan formula and are an illustration only.
- At a variable rate of 6.09 per cent, the monthly repayment is $4,546.
- At a fixed rate of 6.49 per cent, it is $4,742, which is $196 a month more.
- If the variable rate rose by 0.25 points to 6.34 per cent, the repayment would be $4,668, still $74 a month below the fixed loan.
On those numbers, a borrower who fixes at 6.49 per cent comes out ahead only if variable rates rise by more than 0.40 points and stay there for most of the fixed period. Two further increases of 0.25 points would do it; one would not. Nobody knows which will happen, and that uncertainty is the thing a fixed rate insures against.
Related readOne borrower in 50 is short each month, the RBA's stability review findsA fixed rate is priced on the day the loan settles, not the day of application
Unless a borrower pays for a rate lock, most lenders apply the fixed rate on offer at settlement. In a month when nine lenders have raised fixed rates, the rate quoted at application may not be the rate that applies.
What fixing gives up
Certainty has a price beyond the rate. A fixed loan generally limits extra repayments, often does not allow a full offset account, and carries a break cost if the borrower sells, refinances or repays early. The break cost compensates the lender for the difference between the fixed rate and what it can earn by relending the money, and it is largest when market rates have fallen since the loan was fixed.
Those limits matter more than usual for Queensland borrowers this spring, for a reason specific to the state. Suncorp Bank told its 1.2 million customers on 7 September that their banking will move to ANZ by June 2027. A customer choosing a fixed term now that runs beyond that date will want to know how the fixed loan is treated in the move, and the banks have not yet published that detail.
Many borrowers who want some protection split the loan, fixing part and leaving part variable. The fixed part gives a known repayment on that share of the debt; the variable part keeps the offset account and the freedom to pay extra.
None of this is advice. Whether fixing suits a household depends on its budget, how much room it has to absorb a higher repayment, and how likely it is to move or refinance within the term.
The Queensland borrower's position
For borrowers already on a variable rate, which is the large majority, the practical message of the week is about the next few months, not about fixing. If the Board raises the cash rate on 29 September or in November, variable repayments will follow within weeks. On the illustrative $751,000 loan, each 0.25 point increase adds about $122 a month.
Related readRefinancing a home loan: the steps, the costs and the lender's checksFor those coming off a fixed rate taken out in earlier years, the choice at expiry is between a variable rate around 6 per cent and a new fixed rate somewhat above it. Either is higher than the rate that is ending for anyone who fixed before 2026. Lenders write to borrowers before a fixed term ends to say what the loan will revert to, and that reversion rate is often not the lender's best: it is worth asking what rate a new customer would be offered on the same loan.
For buyers arranging finance for a purchase this spring, the gap between the lowest rates in the market and the major banks' rates is the figure to notice. The lowest fixed rate in MPA's report is 5.79 per cent and NAB's one-year rate is 6.59 per cent, a difference of 0.80 points. Smaller lenders can price below the majors on a particular product for a time, and the lowest rate does not suit every borrower, but the spread shows how much the choice of lender matters.
The next dates
The Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy Board meets on 28 and 29 September and announces its decision on the afternoon of the second day. If it raises the cash rate, the announcements from lenders about variable rates will follow in the days after.
The monthly inflation figure for August is due before the decision and is the last major reading the Board will see. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority's June quarter statistics on banks' property lending are also due this month, and will show how many home loans are behind.
Kooky, from Shaka
Kooky edits Queensland Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for Queensland property professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.
