Mortgage holders across the country are waiting anxiously to see whether the other Big Four banks will follow Westpac’s lead as raise variable rates.

Westpac raised rates 0.14% on all of its variable mortgages even though the Reserve Bank kept official rates at a historic low of 1.5% earlier this month.

Leading housing economist Brendan Coates from the Grattan Institute tells Mark sooner or later mortgage rates will rise giving many lenders mortgage stress.

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