Harry O'Sullivan

The numbers are in for the first quarter of the National Housing Accord and every state and territory is behind schedule, although some are doing a lot better than others.

Australia's third largest bank, as well as the nation's largest customer owned bank, were among the lenders to cut mortgage rates this week with less than a fortnight until the February RBA decision.

The RBA board is currently convening for the first time in 2025 with markets expecting a cut - but some say there are convincing arguments for yet another hold.

Mortgage holders around the country should finally see their repayments start to shrink with the February monetary policy decision officially a 0.25% cut.

Contrarian economist Warren Hogan has warned the February monetary policy decision may prove the wrong call despite relief for mortgage holders.

Term deposit rates on the whole continue to fall after the February RBA cut with Macquarie and ING the biggest names to curb returns in the week past, although there was still notable against the grain hikes from RaboBank that included some new market leading rates for longer terms.

After a quarter of declines, Australian property prices increased 0.3% in February with nearly every capital and region seeing growth according to the CoreLogic Home Value Index.

The household savings ratio rose to 3.8% in the December quarter per the National Accounts while GDP per person rose 0.1%, the end of a per capita recession that lasted seven quarters.

Research has found about 45% of Australians have never checked their credit report, a figure one industry expert wants to make a lot lower.

It was a busy week in the home loan market with HSBC and other stragglers finally cutting variable rates (and one brave lender that hiked) as well as some notable new fixed rates from AMP and several others.