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<docID>338542</docID>
<postdate>2025-02-18 14:40:02</postdate>
<headline>RBA cuts rates, bringing long-awaited mortgage relief</headline>
<body><p><img class=" wp-image-338543" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/20250218113441204646-original-1.jpg" alt="" width="1018" height="677" /></p>
<caption>Borrowers desperate for mortgage relief have received a major update from the Reserve Bank. (Flavio Brancaleone/AAP PHOTOS)</caption>
<p class="wire-column__preview__author"><span class="kicker-line">ByÂ <b>Jacob Shteyman</b>Â in Sydney</span></p>
<p><strong>The Reserve Bank of Australia has cut interest rates for the first time in more than four years, bringing long-awaited financial relief to mortgage holders.</strong></p>
<p>As widely expected by economists and the market, the central bank's board lowered the official cash rate target by 25 basis points to 4.1 per cent on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The move marks the start of a much-anticipated monetary easing cycle following 13 rate rises since May 2022, which left interest rates at their highest level in 15 years.</p>
<p>Mortgage holders have been struggling to keep up with high interest rates, with mortgage arrears rising steadily from the record low of one per cent in mid-2022.</p>
<p>If lenders pass the cut on in full, borrowers with an average home loan of $641,416 can expect to save over $100 per month, according to financial comparison site Finder.</p>
<p>The rates market had priced in a 90 per cent chance of a cut ahead of the meeting, but economists were less certain.</p>
<p>Of the 32 economists polled by AAP, 22 per cent expected a hold.</p>
<p>But the majority expected a shallow easing cycle, regardless of the start date.</p>
<p>Rabobank senior macro strategist Benjamin Picton said tightness in the labour market, strengthening household consumption and the weak Australian dollar raised concerns inflation could still kick off again.</p>
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