AFTER the long weekend, homeowners will have little to celebrate today when the National Australia Bank becomes the latest bank to lift its mortgage lending rate.

The NAB has lifted its lending rate by 0.1 per cent to 9.45 per cent a year from today.

The bank said it was not trying to play down the rise by announcing it on Anzac Day, but Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan said the move was inappropriate.

The latest increase is expected to put further pressure on Gold Coast mortgage holders struggling with rising rates and petrol prices.

Independent property valuer Iain Herriott said repossessions were still on the rise across the Gold Coast, especially in the northern growth area including Helensvale, which holds the title as the state's worst suburb for mortgage defaults.

"It is starting to get messy, but we are predicting further rises by the Reserve Bank ofAustralia before July, and that's when it will get really hard," he said.

"The NAB's rise is not good news but they are in business to make money and they are merely following the trend of rate rises."

Mr Herriott said despite public criticism, the NAB's Anzac Day hike was an acceptable business transaction.

"They are entitled to conduct their business any way they want," he said.

"Everyone forgets the commercial reality of modern banking is that banks have a duty to make money for the shareholders -- it's all about the profits.

"They are not in the business of being nice to nice people."

This is the third time this year the NAB has raised lending rates independently of a central bank rate hike.

The ANZ and Suncorp also lifted their benchmark rate by 10 basis points this week, citing high funding costs caused by the global credit crunch.

The increase makes NAB's variable mortgage rate the second highest among the major banks.

ANZ, St George, Suncorp and Bank of Queensland have the highest rates at 9.47 per cent followed by the Commonwealth Bank on 9.44 per cent and Westpac with 9.37 per cent.

However, the reserve bank has left the cash rate unchanged at 7.25 per cent.

Industry insiders predict there is more pain on the way for homeowners with two more reserve bank rate rises expected before the new financial year.

The reserve bank board has already scheduled a meeting for May 6 to decide the future direction of interest rates.

Mr Herriott said many home buyers were aggressively renegotiating their home loan terms and selling non-essential properties.

"The best advice is to bunker down, keep your powder dry, stop spending on non-essential items, and make your house payments first," he said.

"It's hard, but we will just have to wait it out."

www.goldcoast.com.au April 28th 2008