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A non-major bank has agreed with a vast majority of brokers who believe fixed rates will rise before the end of the year.
New figures from the latest Adviser straw poll show that brokers overwhelmingly believe fixed rates will rise once again before the end of 2013.
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The results come just weeks after all four major banks raised fixed rate products, along with non-major bank ING Direct.
Speaking with The Adviser, national manager for brokers, brand, products and distribution at ME Bank Stewart Saunders said he wasn’t surprised by the result.
“The moves that we’ve seen are the first increases we’ve consistently seen across the market, which has certainly raised some serious discussion,” Mr Saunders said.
“With all the media attention, I don’t think it’s surprising that the majority of brokers expect further rate hikes before the end of the year.”
While ME Bank hasn’t yet moved on fixed rates, Mr Saunders admits it’s something that the lender is looking at.
“There are a number of factors at play when it comes to fixed rates: we hedge the majority of our three-year fixed-rate exposures and the three-year futures have been trending upwards, so the financial markets are definitely looking out for a rate rise in the future.
“We’ve seen them bottom out probably about six weeks ago at 2.77 per cent, and now we’re above 3.3 per cent – so there’s definitely upwards pricing pressure on three-year fixed rates from where they were a month ago.”
With rates looking to rise in the near future, Mr Saunders said the lender has witnessed a surge in demand for the products, but wished to remind consumers that even if rates started to move upward – there would still be great value in locking in.
