Seventeen per cent mortgages were real. But a percentage alone cannot tell you which generation had the harder repayment. Sam traces Australia's high-rate era, the changing mortgage market and the difference between a cash rate and a home-loan rate.

This week's connection: the RBA announced a 25-basis-point rise to 4.60% on 29 September 2026, effective 30 September. Historical explanation, not personal financial advice. The loan examples are hypothetical simple-interest comparisons, not historical averages or repayment quotes.

Sources:

RBA, current cash rate and effective dates:

https://www.rba.gov.au/statistics/cash-rate/

RBA, 29 September 2026 decision:

https://www.rba.gov.au/media-releases/2026/mr-26-27.html

RBA, Guy Debelle, The State of the Mortgage Market (2010):

https://www.rba.gov.au/speeches/2010/sp-ag-300310.html

RBA, Australian Macroeconomic Performance and Policies in the 1990s:

https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/confs/2000/gruen-stevens.html

RBA, financial deregulation and asset-price history:

https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/1992/9212/asset-price-inflation-borrowing-and-the-business-cycle.html

RBA, recession explainer:

https://www.rba.gov.au/education/resources/explainers/recession.html

ABS, 70 Years of Inflation in Australia:

https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/research/70-years-inflation-australia

RBA, Australia's Inflation Target:

https://www.rba.gov.au/education/resources/explainers/australias-inflation-target.html

RBA, The Transmission of Monetary Policy:

https://www.rba.gov.au/education/resources/explainers/the-transmission-of-monetary-policy.html