After several years of record low interest rates, Australian home buyers are facing unwelcome news in the lead-up to Christmas.Banks have been quietly raising rates for investor loans in recent times, as well as a range of fixed-term rates, and are now eyeing whether to put up variable rates across all home loans. The main reason for the independent rate rises is the Donald Trump effect. The US President-elect's plans to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on infrastructure have pushed up yields on long term US Treasury bills That has pushed up borrowing costs on capital markets and banks are having to pay more to ... (full story)