Australia's fifth biggest home loan lender hikes mortgage rates

ING, the fifth biggest home loan lender in Australia, will hile home loan variable rates by 0.15 percentage points for new and existing customers effective from Feb. 7. 

So far, the big four banks - Westpac, NAB, CBA and ANZ - have raised mortgage rates, triggering expectations that the resulting housing market slowdown could force the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to cut interest rates by the end of this year.