Generally speaking, if lenders are of the expectation that the RBA Cash Rate is going to rise, their fixed rates will be higher than their variable rates.

Conversely, if lenders expect the Cash Rate to fall, their fixed rates will be lower than their variable rate.

Although some may believe that variable rate changes only occur in line with movements in the RBA Cash Rate, there is no set pattern to the rise and fall of variable home loan interest rates.

Lenders are able to make their own decisions on whether to raise or lower their variable rates at any time.

Often, a variable rate home loan is seen to have more flexibility, and one of the reasons for this may be to do with the fact that in most cases, penalties do not apply for making extra repayments and paying off your variable rate mortgage earlier than expected.

Before you do attempt to get ahead and make extra repayments, though, be sure to examine your loan conditions, and make sure you won’t be penalised for extra repayments made.

This depends on a number of factors, such what’s happening in the markets and what the Reserve Bank is doing with its cash rate.

There may be periods of months or even years during which your variable rate won’t change much, or you could see multiple variable interest rate changes in the same month.

As the name suggests – it’s variable – it varies!

No, unfortunately, by the very nature of a variable rate loan, you’re unable to lock in a rate at a certain point in time, for a certain period of time.

Having a variable rate comes with pros and cons, and one of the potential cons is that at times, you may be exposed to rising interest rates.