Fed: No early Christmas present for home buyers

AAP General News (Australia)
12-03-2003
Fed: No early Christmas present for home buyers

Home buyers will have a little less to spend this Christmas after the Reserve Bank
lifted interest rates for the second month in a row.

The central bank has announced a quarter of a percentage point rise to 5.25 per cent
-- its highest level in more than two-and-a-half years.

When it's passed on in full by lenders, standard mortgage rates will rise to just over
seven per cent, adding $30 to monthly repayments on the average $189,100 home loan.

Reserve Bank governor IAN MACFARLANE says the strength of the economy, and a continued
rise in borrowing -- which rose at its fastest in nine years in October -- shows the boost
from cheap loans is no longer needed.

AAP RTV kmh/sb/rt/rp

KEYWORD: ECONOMY (CANBERRA)

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