The Weekly Brief: five things that changed in Australian finance (10 October 2026)

Two weeks, one edition. This brief covers 28 September to 9 October, a fortnight in which the Reserve Bank raised rates, inflation jumped, house prices kept falling, and the way you pay at the counter changed. Here is what each one means for your money.

1. The cash rate is 4.60 per cent, and every lender passed it on

The Reserve Bank lifted the cash rate by 0.25 percentage points to 4.60 per cent on 29 September, its fourth increase this year, in a unanimous decision. Every major lender passed on the full rise to variable home loans: BOQ from 2 October, the big four from 9 October and Macquarie from 15 October. Westpac's lowest variable rate is now 6.24 per cent, which ends sub-6 per cent variable rates at the big four. Lenders also lifted 289 fixed rates in the week after the decision. On a $600,000 loan the rise costs about $90 to $100 a month. Your new repayment usually starts 20 to 30 days after your lender writes to you.

2. Inflation hit 4 per cent, and the number that matters did not move

Consumer prices rose 4.0 per cent in the year to August, up from 3.5 per cent, after petrol jumped 14.8 per cent in the month as the fuel excise discount ended and electricity bills rose 13.2 per cent over the year as federal rebates ran out. The trimmed mean, the measure the Reserve Bank targets, held at 3.6 per cent for a third month. Westpac and ANZ now expect another rise to 4.85 per cent on 3 November; CBA and NAB do not. The September quarter figures on 28 October will decide it.

3. Home values fell for a sixth month, and Brisbane fell hardest

Cotality's index fell 1.1 per cent in September and is 5.2 per cent below its March peak. Sydney is 8.6 per cent below its February high. Brisbane fell 1.5 per cent, the most of any capital, and its auction clearance rate was 21.2 per cent in the week to 4 October, the lowest since 2008. Listings across the capitals are up about 23 per cent on a year ago because homes are not selling. Buyers have choice; fewer of them have the borrowing power to use it.

4. Card surcharges are banned, and some fees moved instead

From 1 October businesses can no longer add a surcharge for paying by eftpos, Visa or Mastercard debit, credit or prepaid card. The government says consumers will save about $1.6 billion a year. Within hours, some businesses added "service", "platform" or "booking" fees instead. The ACCC says those fees are not necessarily illegal, but a fee charged only because you paid by card is still a surcharge. Weekend and public holiday surcharges are still allowed. If a fee looks like a card surcharge under another name, ask what it covers, and report it to the ACCC or your state fair trading body if the answer is your card.

5. Electric cars outsold petrol again

Battery electric vehicles were 24.2 per cent of new car sales in September on the industry's FCAI count, up from 11.3 per cent a year earlier, and on CarExpert's count, which adds Tesla and Polestar, EVs outsold petrol cars for the second month in a row. Plug-in hybrid sales more than doubled. The draft law that would narrow the EV fringe benefits tax exemption from 1 April 2027 has still not been introduced to Parliament. Under current law the exemption has no end date; under the draft, cars committed to before 1 April 2027 keep the full exemption.

Also this fortnight

• The ATO will keep accepting credit card payments directly until 30 June 2027, after card companies would not offer low enough fees under the new rules. About 5 per cent of small businesses pay the ATO by credit card.
• Queensland Country Bank became the fourth Help to Buy panel lender from 6 October, joining CBA, Bank Australia and Teachers Mutual Bank.
• Consumer confidence fell 4.7 per cent to 80.4 in October. People surveyed after the rate rise were far gloomier than those surveyed before it, and more than 80 per cent expect mortgage rates to rise again within a year.
• Roy Morgan estimates 32.3 per cent of mortgage holders were at risk of mortgage stress in the three months to August, and models that rising to 33.9 per cent if rates reach 4.85 per cent.

Coming up

• Tuesday 13 October: minutes of the September Reserve Bank meeting.
• Thursday 15 October: September jobs figures. Unemployment was 4.6 per cent in August.
• Wednesday 28 October: September quarter inflation, the last big number before the 3 November decision.

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