RELIEVED: Leigh Discher and Chelsea Ma her.
HOME owner Leigh Discher said he would consider dumping his bank if it didn’t pass on the official rate cuts announced yesterday.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has cut the official cash rate by 50 basis points to 3.74 per cent.
The cut is twice the amount expected by most analysts.
Mr Discher and his partner Chelsea Maher are expecting their first child in two weeks, and they stand to save at least $3000 a year if the banks pass on the cuts in full.
“We are with ANZ and we would consider swapping if they didn’t pass on the interest rate cuts,” Mr Disher said.
The couple have a mortgage of $600,000 and Ms Maher is expecting to go on maternity leave soon.
Mr Discher said the interest rate cuts would go a long way in balancing the budget.
“My partner is about to go on maternity leave and would be on half pay for some of the time so we will have reduced income,” he said.
“The cuts will afford us a significant saving as long as the banks do the right thing and pass it on.”
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Real Estate Institute of Australia Ballarat chairman John McMahon said the cuts would also have a positive effect on the Ballarat property market.
“If you stimulate the market, particularly at the lower end, you get a flow-on effect through the entire market because people upgrade,” he said.
“If there is a cut we can expect to see more movement in the real estate market in Ballarat.
“But the most important thing is that any reductions in the official rate is passed on.”