The RBA leaves interest rate unchanged at 1.50 per cent at its September 2018 meeting.

THE Reserve Bank has kept the official cash rate on hold for 25 months in a row. Despite the longest ever period without an official cash rate change, Westpac late last month became the first of the Big Four to begin raising mortgage rates out of cycle with the RBA, blaming “higher wholesale funding costs”.

Experts now believe the cash rate will stay on hold until at least January 2020.