The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) left on Tuesday the overnight cash rate unchanged at its record-low rate of 2.5 per cent, set in August 2013.

However, the RBA decision did not deter lenders from revising some of their mortgage rates by offering season promotions such as cash-back deals and waived fees for new home loans.

finder.com.au, one of the largest comparison Web sites in Australia, has on its database six lenders that offer cash-back deals of up to $1,000. These are National Australia Bank, AustralMortgage, Commonwealth Bank, Heritage Bank, Homeloans.com.au and Newscastle Permanent.

Also on its portal are 11 lenders that waived fees for new home loans as well as limited time rate discounts. St George Bank, Resi and ING Direct are among the 11 financial institutions that have waived fees, while Suncorp Bank offers a 0.72 percentage-point discount for its variable home loan under the bank's Back to Basics offer.

Michelle Hutchison, finder.com.au's money expert, encouraged Aussies to avail of these offers in preparation for the inevitable rise in key lending rates as predicted by 28 industry experts in its monthly RBA survey.

She said, "We're still seeing home loan interest rate movements, with 94 fixed home loans that saw reduced rates by as much as 0.70 percentage points over the past month, and 23 fixed rates increased by up to 0.30 percentage points. Interestingly, 27 variable rate home loans have fallen in the past month, by up to 0.30 percentage points from ANZ, My State, IMB, Bendigo Bank, Resi, Suncorp Bank, Wide Bay Australia and State Custodians."

Hutchison added that it is not surprising to hear of promotional offers since spring is mortgage season since it is the busiest time of the year to purchase, dispose and refinance. She said, "While it's unusual to see variable home loan rates move out of cycle, lenders do have room to move as most have not passed on all the past cash rate cuts in full."

Shane Oliver, chief economist of AMP Capital, noted that it is not just the overnight cash rate that has remained constant but also their comment, which are indicators that the Australian central bank is still not happy and wants further cuts.

HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham believes the RBA decision is an attempt to further cut the key lending rate to stimulate the Australian economy. "From their perspective, a lower currency would help speed up the rebalancing of growth," Bloxham said.

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