Home › Industry News › RBA rate rise and replacing your devices
The Reserve Bank raised the cash rate to an 18-year high today, and in the same statement named technology goods as part of the inflation problem. If your phone or laptop is dying and the budget just got smaller, here is what actually changes.
At its meeting on 3 November 2026 the Monetary Policy Board raised the cash rate target by 25 basis points to 4.85 per cent, effective 4 November. It was a majority decision rather than a consensus: six members voted to raise, three voted to hold at 4.60 per cent. The next decision is 8 December.
The Board's own assessment of where this leaves households is blunt: “The economy is slowing, housing prices have fallen significantly and the unemployment rate has risen.” It expects higher rates to weigh further on household consumption, and inflation to stay elevated “through much of 2027” — about three quarters later than it forecast in August.
The Age reported that today's rise adds roughly $100 a month to a 30-year, $600,000 mortgage. For renters there is no single figure, but the same tightening flows through.
The part that matters if you buy technology. Explaining why inflation is broader than expected, the RBA wrote:
“AI-related investment is driving rapid growth in prices for technology-related goods, and inflation in many goods and services remains high.” — RBA Monetary Policy Decision, 3 November 2026
That is the central bank identifying technology goods as a component of the inflation it is raising rates to fight. We wrote in August about AI data centres absorbing the world's memory supply and dragging phone and laptop prices up with it. The same mechanism is now in a monetary policy statement.
A rate rise usually cools demand and softens prices. This one lands while technology goods are being pushed the other way by a supply story monetary policy has no lever over. Your repayments go up; the replacement laptop does not get cheaper. That is an unusual combination, and it is the reason “just wait a few months” is weaker advice this cycle than it normally would be.
The cheapest device is the one you already own. Before anything else:
Only once repair is genuinely off the table does the buying decision start.
“Buy refurbished” is not one decision. The three main categories behave quite differently, and the saving is largest where most people look least.
Phones depreciate fastest, so the refurbished discount against new is widest here, and a one-or-two-generation-old flagship usually outperforms a current-year budget handset at the same price. The things to verify are battery health and whether the handset is network unlocked. Battery is the component that actually ages; a cosmetic grade tells you nothing about it.
Laptops hold value longer but stay useful longer too, so the absolute dollar saving is often the biggest of the three. Ex-corporate and ex-lease machines are the sweet spot: they are typically three years old, were maintained, and come with business-grade build quality that consumer models at the same price do not have. Check the stated battery cycle count and that the charger is included.
Tablets are the most overlooked. They become obsolete slowest — a five-year-old tablet is still fine for reading, video and schoolwork — which means the oldest refurbished stock is often entirely adequate and very cheap. For a household replacing a child's device, this is usually where the money goes furthest.
Our savings calculator compares refurbished against new by model, and Best Buys lists the lowest verified price per model with the date it was checked.
A smaller budget is precisely when a bad refurbished purchase hurts most. The cheapest listing is usually cheapest for a reason — a lower cosmetic grade, no stated battery floor, a shortened return window, or a seller with no verifiable review history. If it fails in February, the saving is gone and so is the device, and replacing it twice costs more than buying properly once.
Four checks, none slower than the price comparison you were already doing:
One more: in refurbished tech the advertised discount is almost always measured against the new recommended retail price, not against what that seller charged last month. A refurbished phone sits 40–60 per cent below new RRP every day of the year, so a large percentage badge can appear with or without an actual sale. The comparison that tells you something is against the same seller's own recent price, or against what two or three other sellers are asking for the same model and grade today.
Instalment plans spread a cost; they do not reduce it, and on a tightening budget a string of fortnightly commitments is a different kind of exposure to a single payment. Late fees and the effect on your credit file are worth reading before you tap through. This is general information rather than financial advice, and your circumstances will differ.
Australian Consumer Law guarantees apply to refurbished goods bought from a business, in full, including during sales. A seller cannot remove or shorten them with a notice on the website. In June 2025 the ACCC issued three infringement notices to Reebelo Australia, which paid A$59,400, over statements purporting to impose a 14-day limit on remedies for faulty goods, goods not matching their description, or the wrong model being sent.
“Under the Australian Consumer Law, consumers automatically have basic rights when buying products and services, known as consumer guarantees. These rights cannot be taken away by anything a business says or does.” — ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe, 3 June 2025
Buying second-hand, refurbished, or on sale does not reduce what you are entitled to. Payment of an infringement notice is not an admission of a contravention.
The December decision on 8 December lands after the late-November sales but before most Christmas spending clears. The RBA dropped the explicit forward-guidance line it used in September, so the outcome is genuinely open. If you are weighing buying now against waiting, the more useful question is not the cash rate — it is whether the specific configuration you want will still be in stock in January. In late November, clearance depth moves more than price does.
This article explains a publicly announced monetary policy decision and its likely effect on consumer prices. It is general information, not financial advice, and RefurbVerify is not a financial adviser. Your circumstances will differ.
RBA forecasts are the Bank's own projections and are revised at each Statement on Monetary Policy. Refurbished discount ranges are indicative and vary by model, grade, storage and seller; we have not quoted specific prices here because our stored price history has not been re-verified since August.
The Monetary Policy Board raised the cash rate target by 25 basis points to 4.85 per cent, effective 4 November 2026. It was the fifth increase of 2026 and the highest cash rate since 2008. The decision was by majority: six members voted to raise and three voted to hold at 4.60 per cent. The next decision is scheduled for 8 December 2026.
The Age reported that the increase adds roughly $100 a month to a 30-year $600,000 mortgage. The actual figure depends on your loan size, term and rate, and on whether your lender passes the increase on in full. This is general information, not financial advice.
Yes. Explaining why inflation is broader than expected, the Board wrote that "AI-related investment is driving rapid growth in prices for technology-related goods, and inflation in many goods and services remains high." That is the central bank naming technology goods as a component of current inflation.
Not directly, and possibly the opposite. Refurbished prices are anchored to new prices, so when new devices get dearer the refurbished stock underneath them tends to hold value rather than depreciate on the usual curve. The discount against new stays wide while the absolute price drifts up. A rate rise reduces what households can spend; it does not reduce what sellers paid for stock.
If it is repairable, usually yes. A failing phone battery or a full laptop drive is far cheaper to fix than the device is to replace, and the genuine end of life for most devices is the end of security updates rather than physical failure. Check your model’s support window before deciding it has to go.
It depends what you need. Phones depreciate fastest, so the percentage discount against new is widest. Laptops often deliver the biggest absolute dollar saving, particularly ex-corporate and ex-lease machines around three years old. Tablets become obsolete slowest, so older refurbished stock is frequently adequate and very cheap, which makes them the best value for a secondary or child’s device.
Four things: the condition grade and what that particular seller means by it; a stated minimum battery health in writing on that listing; the warranty and return window on that specific listing rather than the general policy page; and the seller’s review history and transparency. The cheapest listing is often cheapest for a reason.
Yes, in full. Australian Consumer Law guarantees apply to refurbished goods bought from a business, including during sales, and a business cannot remove or shorten them. In June 2025 the ACCC issued infringement notices to Reebelo Australia, which paid A$59,400 in penalties, over website statements purporting to impose a 14-day limit on remedies.