Rates on hold in July

There were no surprises at the July Board meeting, with the Reserve Bank of Australia choosing to leave the official cash rate on hold.

This is the second consecutive month that the cash rate has been left on hold at 1.75%.

According to the Board, local and global economic uncertainty provided the Reserve Bank with no incentive to change their current stance on monetary policy.

There has been plenty of activity on a global and local level recently which has led to increased market uncertainty and caused consumer confidence to slide.

According to the Westpac Melbourne Institute of Consumer Sentiment, confidence dipped 1% in June. Looking ahead, recent global and local events are expected to force confidence lower.

On a global scale, England's decision to leave the European Union left the world gobsmacked and overly cautious.

On a local level, Australia's federal election hit a stalemate on Saturday, with no party winning enough seats to declare victory.

At present, Australia's pre-postal votes are being counted and scrutinised in order to determine who the new government may be.

This unusual set of circumstances has left Australians feeling very uncertain and, once again, overly cautious.

As a result of these two key events, the Reserve Bank thought it prudent to leave rates on hold for the time being.

Moving forward however, depending on what this month's quarterly inflation results reveal and what impact the final election result has on the market, we may see the Reserve Bank change their stance on monetary policy again this year.

Of course, regardless of what the Reserve Bank decides to do in the future, interest rates continue to sit at historical lows – making the cost of borrowing more affordable than ever before.

Whether you are thinking of buying property in the not-too-distant future, or are currently trying to pay off your mortgage, now is a great time to do so.

With home loan rates at all-time lows, there has never been a better time to be a property owner.