Commonwealth Bank has repriced fixed home loans for new customers ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s September meeting, lifting its two-year fixed rate to 6.82 per cent from 6.34 per cent—a 48 basis point jump that brokers say is nearly double a standard 25 basis point RBA move. For households rolling off record-low pandemic fixes, the change is a dollar figure on the statement, not a macro debate.
What CBA changed
Australian Broker reported the increases on 22 September across owner-occupier and investor fixed brackets, with the two-year term taking the largest adjustment. Other terms rose between 15 and 30 basis points; the one-year fix moved toward 6.78–6.89 per cent depending on product packaging, nudging closer to the psychologically heavy 7 per cent mark. CBA’s public rate card lags live broker sheets, but the direction matches internal forecasts that now call for a September hike followed by cuts from late 2027.
Mortgage Professional Australia calculated that a 30 basis point rise on a one-year fix adds about $90 a month on a $450,000 loan over 30 years. Canstar’s modelling uses a $600,000 balance and warns that a 25 basis point RBA increase would add $91 to monthly repayments—$364 cumulatively since the hiking cycle began if the board delivers next week.
Big four pricing in the same hike
Westpac, NAB and ANZ had already shifted fixed-rate sheets and published economist calls aligning with a 4.60 per cent cash rate after the 28–29 September meeting. ANZ remains the outlier on timing in some forecasts, but none of the majors is offering a soft landing narrative for borrowers this month. Brokers watch these moves because banks price expected terminal rates into fixed products before the governor speaks; when CBA moves 48 basis points on the two-year bucket, it is betting the variable floor will be higher for longer than borrowers hoped in July.
Rate-lock products CBA markets to borrowers let customers freeze a quoted fixed rate before settlement, which matters when sheets change weekly during RBA season. Mortgage brokers reported a rush of lock requests after the 22 September repricing, according to trade press, as buyers tried to beat further hikes on auction weekend contracts.
Household arithmetic
Canstar data insights director Sally Tindall noted three of the four majors were aligned on a September increase after July’s inflation surprise pushed NAB to abandon a 2027 cut call. For a family that fixed at sub-3 per cent in 2021, the cliff was always coming; the fresh pain is for buyers who waited for a peak and are now locking at nearly 7 per cent on short terms. Break costs on existing fixed loans are unchanged, but comparison sites will immediately rerank variable discounts against the new fixed grid.
What happens on RBA week
If the board holds, CBA’s preemptive hike still stands for new business until the next repricing cycle. If the board moves 25 basis points, variable customers on standard variable rates will see pass-through within days, while fixed offers may tighten again. Westpac and NAB repricing last week means comparison sites will already show clustered fixed rates in the high sixes across the majors, shrinking the advantage of switching banks on rate alone.
Australian Broker noted Canstar modelling that a borrower with $600,000 outstanding could save roughly $776 in interest over a year by picking the lowest one-year fixed instead of the lowest variable—an arithmetic exercise that flips if additional hikes arrive. For investors in bank equities, the repricing is evidence that funding desks believe the tightening cycle is not finished even as futures traders debate labour-market softening.
Either way, the household bill in Australian dollars moved this week on CBA’s two-year line—a concrete number brokers will quote before the RBA’s Sunday evening statement lands in inboxes across the country. Refinancers who waited for clarity may find clarity priced at 6.82 per cent for two years of certainty, a rate that would have been unthinkable during the emergency lows of 2020–21.