Australian Households Caught in Interest Rate Pincer Movement

Australia's households are facing an interest rate squeeze as the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) prepares to hike rates for the third time in a row.

This would push the official cash rate to its highest level since 2008, according to chart data from Alex Joiner at IFM Investors.

The RBA is expected to increase interest rates by another two to three percentage points, taking it to between 4.85% and 5.10%, a move that would further burden households already struggling with high mortgage servicing costs.

Mortgage servicing costs are currently at their highest level since the early 1990s, when the official cash rate peaked at 17%.