Fixed vs variable home loan rates after the November 2026 rise

The short answer

Once lenders add the November rise to their variable rates, fixing for two years will cost only a little more than staying variable.

On 5 November 2026, two days after the Reserve Bank lifted the cash rate to 4.85%, the typical variable rate for a new home loan was 6.44% and the typical 2-year fixed rate 6.75%. Most lenders hadn't yet added the November rise to their variable rates. 21 of them, the big four among them, have said their variable rates go up 0.25 between 6 and 19 November. Their fixed rates had gone up weeks earlier.

On a $600,000 loan, that puts the two side by side like this:

• A variable rate with the November rise added costs about $3,868 a month, and can move again at any time.
• A 2-year fixed rate costs about $3,892 a month, $24 more, and stays put for two years.
• What fixing gives up: fewer fixed loans offer an offset account, extra repayments are often capped, and leaving early can cost a break fee.

Every rate here is one a lender quotes someone taking out a new loan to buy a home they'll live in, with a 20% deposit and repaying principal and interest. "Typical" is the rate in the middle: half of lenders charge less and half more.

What each costs on $600,000

A month's repayment on $600,000 over 30 years at the typical rate for each kind of loan on 5 November. A fixed repayment stays the same only for the fixed term; after that the loan moves to a variable rate.

The longer the fixed term, the more it costs: a 5-year fixed rate is about $100 a month more than variable with the November rise added. The lowest rates on offer were Southern Cross Credit Union's: 5.93% variable and 6.24% fixed for two years.

What the big lenders charge

Each lender's lowest rate for each kind of loan on 5 November 2026. The variable rates are before the November rise: CommBank, Westpac, NAB, ANZ and ING put their variable rates up 0.25 from 13 November, and Macquarie from 19 November.

ANZ is the odd one out: its lowest fixed rate is under its lowest variable rate. Of the 39 lenders that offer both, only ANZ and Australian Military Bank are like that.

Why fixed rates went up first

A fixed rate is set on what it costs a lender to borrow money for that term, and that moves with what markets expect the Reserve Bank to do. So when a rise is expected, fixed rates tend to go up before it's announced.

That's what happened before the RBA's September rise. In the 17 days before the announcement, 12 lenders put their fixed rates up while variable rates barely moved. Nine of them went up by 0.25 or more, the size of the rise the RBA then announced. CommBank's lowest 2-year fixed rate went from 6.34% to 6.82%.

After September's rise, both kinds went up: 25 lenders raised fixed rates and 41 raised variable rates by 3 November, nearly all by 0.25.

Before November's rise it was different. Only three small lenders raised a fixed rate in the fortnight before 3 November, so the big lenders' fixed rates on 5 November were the same as before the RBA moved.

How the gap has moved

The typical 2-year fixed rate has sat about 0.3 above the typical variable rate since September. When the November rise reaches variable rates, the gap closes to under 0.1, unless lenders put their fixed rates up again.

What fixing gives up

A fixed rate keeps the repayment the same for its term. What it can cost is in the loan's features and in getting out early.

• An offset account. Fewer than a third of 2-year fixed loans offer one (15 of 51), against more than half of variable loans (52 of 88). Fewer allow redraw too: 30 of 51, against 82 of 88.
• Extra repayments. Many fixed loans cap them during the term. Westpac and its brands allow up to $30,000 over the fixed period before a break fee applies.
• Break fees. Paying off a fixed loan early, refinancing or switching during the term can cost a fee if rates have fallen since you fixed. If rates have risen, there may be none.
• The rate it moves to. When the fixed term ends, the loan moves to the lender's variable rate for that loan, which is often higher than the lowest variable rate it offers new borrowers.

You can see the rate a loan moves to in its comparison rate, which counts the whole life of an example loan, not just the fixed years. CommBank's 1-year fixed rate is 6.78%, but its comparison rate is 8.53%*, because after the first year the loan moves to a higher variable rate. Most lenders' fixed comparison rates sit much closer to the rate they advertise.

If you already have a home loan

Every rate in this article is one a lender quotes someone taking out a new loan.

• On a variable rate: your lender tells you your new rate and when it starts. 12 of the 21 lenders that have announced a November rise say it applies to existing loans too; the rest haven't said.
• On a fixed rate: your rate doesn't change until the fixed term ends.

Existing loans are often on higher rates than new ones. Canstar estimates that someone who took out a variable loan five years ago and hasn't asked for a lower rate could soon be paying around 7.34%, while lenders quote new borrowers under 6.5% (Australian Broker, 3 November).

Where rates might go

Choosing between fixed and variable is partly a view on what rates do next, and nobody, the Reserve Bank included, knows that.

In Finder's survey of 40 economists and experts before the decision, 28% expected another rise after November, most of them in February 2027 (Finder, 2 November). The Reserve Bank next announces its decision on 8 December; every decision, and which lenders passed it on, is on BankMate's RBA page.

Every lender's variable rate beside its fixed rates, worked out on your own loan, is on fixed vs variable; the leaders by type are on the home loan leaderboards and in the home loan report.

Rates as each lender publishes them, checked by BankMate each night, to 5 November 2026: for a borrower buying a home to live in, repaying principal and interest with a 20% deposit, each lender's loan at its lowest rate, loans only for first home buyers left out. Typical rates are the middle (median) of every lender's lowest rate, compared on the same loans over time. Repayments are principal and interest over 30 years. Announced variable rate rises from each lender's own site. Quotes as reported by the sources linked.