It would be wise to budget for further rate rises. When the interest rates hit an all time low, lenders were more generous on their serviceability calculators which meant that they were allowing the borrower to lend more money as the rates were low. As the rates steadily increase this obviously adds to higher repayments (unless you are on a fixed rate)

A lot of borrowers do not plan ahead and do not allow for the increase in repayments hoping that the rates will not go up. There are many factors that decide on rate increases and some of them can be outside the economists and financial guru’s predictions (just look at what happened last year with the global financial crisis)

Always try and plan ahead and do not lend more than you are comfortable at repaying your mortgage on a buffer of 0.5% or even 1% higher than your current interest rate.

Life is unpredictable and job loss, sickness and the economy can sometimes be totally out of your control.