The RBA Held Rates: Will Banks Still Offer You a Better Deal?

A Hold Does Not Mean Nothing Changes

It is tempting to read an RBA hold as a signal that mortgage rates are frozen until the next decision. That is only half true. The cash rate itself did not move, so nothing forces a lender to reprice existing loans. But lenders set their own margins on top of the cash rate, and margin decisions are driven by funding costs, competition for new customers, and each bank's own balance sheet targets, not just the RBA.

That distinction matters. A hold from the RBA is not the same as a hold from your bank, and conflating the two is the single biggest reason borrowers overpay for years without realising it.

Variable Rates: No Automatic Change

Standard variable home loan rates move in lockstep with the cash rate for existing borrowers. Since the cash rate held at 4.35%, your variable repayment stays exactly where it landed after the May hike. There is no mechanism that automatically passes on a "hold" as a saving, because there is nothing to pass on.

What has changed is the gap between what long-standing customers pay and what the market actually offers new borrowers. Big 4 variable rates currently average in the mid 6% range, while the most competitive lenders on the market are pricing new business well below that.

That gap, roughly 0.4 percentage points between a typical big 4 rate and the best available rate, is not RBA policy. It is pricing discretion, and it is exactly the kind of gap a broker can close by comparing lenders on your behalf.

Fixed Rates: Stuck Without a "Peak Is In" Signal

Fixed rates behave differently to variable rates. They are priced off wholesale swap markets, which reflect where traders expect the cash rate to be over the fixed term, combined with the RBA's own public language. A genuinely dovish, "the peak is behind us" statement would see fixed rates drift lower in the weeks after a hold, as markets price in future cuts.

That is not what happened in August. Governor Bullock's language, restrictive and tight, ready to hike further, market pricing of cuts is premature, is deliberately hawkish. Expect fixed rates to stay roughly where they are, rather than easing, until the RBA's own tone genuinely shifts.

Who Is Actually Cutting Rates Right Now

Despite the RBA hold, competition for new customers has not stopped. At least 11 lenders, including ING, BOQ, Community First, and Queensland Country Bank, have cut at least one variable rate since the May hike. This is not a broad market move, it is targeted competition for new business.

How to "Engineer Your Own Rate Cut"

With the RBA unlikely to deliver relief before 2027, the only reliable ways to lower your repayment right now come from your own action, not from waiting on the board.

Use our refinancing savings calculator to see exactly how much a switch could be worth before you start comparing lenders.

When Might Rates Actually Fall?

All four major banks now expect the RBA to hold for the rest of 2026, with cuts pushed into 2027. The banks differ on timing and pace.

Even once cuts begin, they will not restore variable rates to 2025 levels quickly, and fixed rates typically start moving before the first actual cut lands, as swap markets price it in ahead of time. Borrowers waiting for the RBA to hand them relief are likely to wait considerably longer than those who act on the market that already exists today.