Those who own property in Australia will be keeping a close eye on the actions of the country's banks over the coming months, the Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) has claimed.
David Airey, president at the REIA, said that he expects official interest rates to remain on hold until the end of May.
The REIA also believes that the credit market will increase by 0.25 percentage points over the next year.
"Whether they [the banks] will continue increasing mortgage rates more than the increments in the cash rate or adjust mortgage rates accordingly to cash rates movements will be crucial to mortgage holders," concluded Mr Airey.
His comments follow the recent publication of figures by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which revealed that finance commitments for property in Australia reached, in trend terms, $20.9 billion (£13 billion) in January.
This is a percentage change of 0.2 from the value of the commitments made in December 2010.
Posted by Ravin Chatlani