The Reserve Bank has chosen to hit pause on interest rates but mortgage holders are yet to feel the full force of tightening so far.
The central bank kept the cash rate firm at 4.1 per cent, a decision that followed hikes amounting to four percentage points to bring down inflation.
The July call has been welcomed by borrowers, with mortgage holders already due to fork out an extra $1134 to monthly payments on a standard $500,000 loan compared to before the hikes, according to RateCity.
Borrowers are also yet to feel the last two hikes, of a total of 12 since May last year.
RateCity research director Sally Tindall said mortgage holders were only just forking out for the 10th hike as there's typically a lag of two or three months between interest rate movements and money leaving bank accounts.
"Their monthly repayments are likely to rise two more times, even if the cash rate doesn't move a muscle, which, in itself, is an unlikely scenario," she said.
RBA governor Philip Lowe kept his reference to further tightening, if necessary, in his July monetary policy statement.
Many economists still expect one more hike, including Su-Lin Ong and Robert Thompson of RBC Capital Markets.
The pair said interest rates would probably need to go higher with Australia likely to mimic comparable nations that are experiencing price pressures from strong population growth, higher rents and utilities.
"Policy settings probably need to be more restrictive and we leave a final 25 basis point hike in our profile," they wrote in a note.
Consumer confidence took a hit in the lead-up to the finely balanced rates decision, inching 0.8 points lower to 74.1 last week.
The weekly index by ANZ and Roy Morgan has been in deeply pessimistic territory throughout the interest rate hiking cycle.
Averaged over four weeks, confidence is at its lowest level in 30 years with the exception of the first month of the pandemic.
