I wrote this article just a few hours before the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA)'s announced its monthly monetary policy decision for October - otherwise known as its cash rate resolution.

Along with everyone else - be it economists, property experts and everyday homeowners - I'm expecting the cash rate to rise once more.

After all, it's already risen 2.25 consecutive basis points since May and is currently at 2.35%.

But the big question is: when will the RBA stop raising rates?

And how do we weather such rises and come out - relatively - smiling?

As someone planning to buy a home ASAP - and who has written about real estate for more than a decade - I'm not bothered by the rising rates.

And here's why I think you should keep calm and carry on too - while still staying smart, of course.

When will the RBA stop raising rates?

Short answer: we don't know.

No one does.

But we can read, research, listen and keep a close eye on what's happened in Australia's financial history to help us deal with the present and future.

For starters, RBA Rate Tracker figures on September 30 showed market expectations were holding to a 79% chance of October cash rates increasing to 2.85%, which would be up 50 basis points for the fifth consecutive month. 

Three of the Big 4 Banks concur with this forecast with only the Commonwealth Bank hoping for a more cautious 25 basis point rise to 2.5%.

Certainly, the RBA has already noted that its ideal, current neutral rate - one that's "neither stimulatory nor contractionary" - is 2.5%.

Also, whatever you do - and I can't say this enough - do not get drawn into the pressure, panic and pessimistic outlook that's now rife in property and finance articles.

That includes running scared of high inflation or the doom and gloom being spouted around potential property market crashes.

I'm not denying - you'd be crazy if you did - that it's not a very choppy market out there at the moment with high prices and high inflation to boot.

But we're not in the 1980s-1990s either when interest rates skyrocketed to a record-high of 17.5%.

Finally, we've been pretty darn lucky that interest rates have since remained around 5% or lower for around 15 years.

So, breathe.

And keep the current situation in perspective.

As I said earlier, I also recommend talking to, reading or listening to well-experienced, unpanicked experts

For me personally, such experts include Michael Yardney from PropertyUpdate and Terry Ryder from Hotspotting.

Here's what they think about RBA and its rising rates - and in particular, whether these rates will lead to major price declines.

Michael Yardney, Property Update:

Mr Yardney has brushed aside the idea of property values crashing as interest rates rise - in fact, based on Australia's financial history, the opposite is more likely to happen.

As well, he said how a particular property performs depends on a combination of factors - of which interest rates are just one.

"Interest rates rose strongly for a six-year period from 2004 to 2008 and then again from 2010-11 after the Global Financial Crisis - and in most of these years...property values also increased," he said.

Mr Yardney also doesn't believe higher rates will necessarily equal higher mortgage stress.

Indeed, he said if rates do rise to the RBA's 2.5% neutral levels, it will only bring these rates back to where they were three years ago - and there was minimal mortgage stress then.

As well, lenders' very conservative stress-testing loan applications are actually a bonus for mortgage owners and potential buyers.

"Most mortgage owners who borrowed over the last couple of years will be able to handle an interest rate increase of 2.5 or even 3% and those who borrowed prior to these stricter requirements would have considerable equity in their properties," Mr Yardney said.

Terry Ryder, Hotspotting:

As far back as February this year - and before interest rates started jumping in May - Mr Ryder was advising buyers, in particular, to "ignore media speculation about interest rates and get on with business." 

"Keep in mind that most of this idle speculation is sourced from economists whose track record in forecasting events is quite dreadful," Mr Ryder explained.

The possibility that rising interest rates could equal falling property prices was an "even bigger furphy", he added.

Mr Ryder reiterated this point at the end of September, saying with Mr Yardney that while many reports pointed to rising interest rates as the reason for declining property prices, the relation between the two is completely untrue. 

"The reality is that price decline is happening in relatively few markets – and that those markets where prices are falling were in decline long before the RBA started to lift the official interest rate," Mr Ryder said.

He explained that a prime example of this untruth was that of Sydney, where sales activity peaked in the middle of 2021 and faded in the second half of last year, before taking a big dip in the March quarter of 2022 - well before the RBA's May announcement of an interest rate rise.

Mr Ryder said he'd observed similar trends in Brisbane, regional NSW areas and other boom regional markets such as the Sunshine Coast and some parts of the Melbourne market; however, prices are still on the rise in Darwin, Adelaide and Perth as well as many regional markets.

"Here’s the reality: if interest rates were the sole factor determining property market outcomes and if rising interest rates equate to falling prices, then prices would be falling everywhere – but they’re not."

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 NB: The RBA cash rate has since announced an increased cash rate of 2.6%, up 25 basis points.