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A survey made by finder.com.au, one of the biggest comparison Web sites in Australia, found that an increase in the overnight cash rate by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) would likely come at the earliest by the third quarter of 2015.

The 28 leading banking experts, including from the big four, said that they do not expect any changes in the official cash rate at the RBA board meeting on Tuesday, Oct 7.

About 46 per cent forecast a rate hike in Q3 2015, another 21 per cent believe it would happen earlier in Q1, 18 per cent pointed to Q2, 7 per cent in Q4 and 4 per cent in H1.

The belief that an interest rate increase would take place sometime in 2015 means the era of cheap interest rates, currently at 2.5 per cent, would soon end, making it necessary for property buyers to be more cautious when it comes to their borrowing levels.

"The finder.com.au Reserve Bank Survey sentiment revealed that many factors will keep the cash rate at the current low level of 2.50 percent. Inflation being subdued, the low Australian Dollar, and damage to property markets outside Sydney and Melbourne should the cash rate rise too soon," explained finder.com.au money expert Michelle Hutchison in a statement.

When the key lending rate goes up sometime in 2015, it is expected to gradually rise in the next two to three years until it reaches a new normal level of 4 per cent, according to 64 per cent of those surveyed. But 11 per cent of the survey respondents think the new normal would be 5 per cent.

In terms of date, only 1 respondent thought the new normal would happen by 2015, while 32 per cent point to 2016 and 29 per cent to 2017.

Given that the chances of a rate increase is several months or even a few years away, Hutchison advisers home buyers or current mortgage holders to prepare a buffer and pay as much as they can to lower the effect of future higher rates.

"It's also a good time to compare home loans online and find a better deal because a small discount can make a big difference to the cost of your loan. For instance, 0.25 percentage points discount on a $300,000 home loan is worth about $50 per month or about $18,000 over a 30-year loan term," Hutchison explained.