NAB has ditched the last sub-2% rate in Australia by hiking their 1-year fixed by a full half percentage point. Their 1.99% fixed rate will become 2.49%, taking it from the cheapest offering on the market to the most expensive.
NAB had been the last holdouts of the Big Four with a rate beneath the symbolic 2% barrier, but now tie with CBA as the highest one-year rate available.
The two-, three-, four- and five-year rates were all also hiked, and all are now either outright or tied as the most expensive of the Big Four.
Two-year fixed at NAB went up 25pts to 2.59% (equal with CBA as highest), three-year moved from 2.79% to 3.09% (outright highest).
Both the four-year and five-year rates are now the highest of the Big Four, with 40 basis point rises taking them to 3.29% and 3.49% respectively.
The NAB moves represent the most recent development in the ongoing rate saga that was put in place by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) decision at the start of the month to ditch the 2024 schedule to raise the cash rate.
The RBA declined to set a new target, but the market has now moved multiple times with the general consensus now being that a rate rise will come in 2023, as evidenced by the large gap between two-year fixed rates and three-year fixed rates that can be seen across the Big Four.
The cheapest Big Four two-year rate is to be found at Westpac, who are still offering 2.24%, though that has also risen three times in recent weeks.
The gap between one-year and two-year is 10pts across the board – and equal at Westpac – with the smallest gap between two-year and three-year a massive 35points (Westpac) and, as of today, as much as 50pts at NAB.
