RBA holds rates and dashes hopes of quick cuts

The Reserve Bank of Australia has held interest rates steady as widely expected, with attention turning to when, or if, the central bank will cut again.

Borrowers will have to wait until at least November for more mortgage relief, but hotter-than-expected inflation and an enduringly robust labour market have raised the prospect the RBA might have delivered its last rate cut.

Tuesday’s decision leaves the cash rate at 3.6 per cent after 75 basis points of cuts since February.

Monthly inflation jumped to three per cent in August, snuffing out faint hopes for a rate cut in September.

Markets significantly repriced the odds for further rate reductions after last week’s consumer price index print, with only one more cut priced in this cycle ahead of the RBA’s announcement.

But Tim Lawless, research director at property analytics firm Cotality, said the central bank was unlikely to read too deeply into the volatile monthly figure.

The more reliable quarterly data due out in October will be more decisive for the RBA’s next meeting in November.

A benign reading could clear the way for more rate relief and boost home prices, Mr Lawless said.

“A further cut to interest rates is likely to provide additional support to housing demand from an increase in borrowing capacity and serviceability assessments, but also via higher consumer sentiment,” he said.

All nine board members voted in favour of a hold.