Interest Rates

Until very recently most people were saying interest rates would not move up before Christmas. But increasingly there are signs that an earlier increase could happen. Economic figures released this week suggest the economy is continuing well even as the stimulus packages are being phased out. House and apartment prices have risen for the last eight months in a row. Retail sales rose nearly 1% in August. Alex Joiner of ANZ says that "high levels of confidence may be able to weather interest rate hikes".