HOME-OWNERS will pay about $50 a month more on their mortgages after the Reserve Bank increased its cash rate for the first time this year.
The official cash rate was increased from 3.75 per cent to four per cent today.
The market had priced in a 70 per cent probability that the Reserve Bank board would increase its cash rate by 25 basis points.
This pricing had increased this morning after the Australian Bureau of Statistics issued positive retail data which found that consumers had gone on a record $20.1 billion spending spree in January.
However positive retail data was offset by other data showing a fall in building approvals in January.
The increase to the official rate will add about $50 a month to a $300,000, 25-year home, according to research company Canstar Cannex.
Home-owners will now be looking to see which bank is the first to pass on the increase in their standard variable rates.
In previous public comments the Reserve Bank has pointed to particularly strong jobs data and strong demand from China as positive signs for the Australian economy.
The Reserve Bank continues to be one of the few central banks in the world that is tightening monetary policy and it is likely to do so several more times this year.
In late February Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens told the Government's economics committee that he expected to raise the cash rate between two and four more times in 2010.