What is rba cash rate?
The cash rate is the interest rate the Reserve Bank of Australia sets for overnight inter-bank lending — it anchors home-loan variable rates, savings rates, and broader credit pricing across the economy.
The cash rate is the official policy interest rate set by the Reserve Bank of Australia's monetary policy board, currently meeting on the first Tuesday of February, April, May, July, August, September, November and December. It's the rate banks lend overnight reserves to each other at — and indirectly anchors the entire short-end of the Australian yield curve.
Variable home loan rates are not directly tied to the cash rate, but lenders compete on the perceived gap to it. A 25bps RBA cut is often followed by lenders passing through 20-25bps to variable rates within 2-4 weeks; cuts and hikes alike are usually announced as 'effective from' a date 1-3 weeks after the RBA meeting.
Fixed rates are priced off bond market expectations of future cash rates, so they can move independently of any given RBA decision — for example, fixed rates can fall ahead of an expected RBA cut, weeks before the cut actually happens.
cash rate · RBA rate · official cash rate
- Variable-rate home loan — A variable-rate loan moves with the lender's pricing decisions and the RBA cash rate cycle — the rate (and your repaymen…
- Fixed-rate home loan — A fixed-rate loan locks the interest rate for a chosen term — typically 1, 2, 3 or 5 years — so repayments don't move wi…
General information only — not personal financial advice. Verified against https://ratesniffers.com.au/glossary on 2026-06-01.