of interest rate rises of as little as 0.15%. APRA chairman Wayne Byres announced that the "heavy lifting on lending standards has largely been done", and that there was unlikely to be any further tightening of macroprudential policy. 16 July - Pressure is growing on the big four banks to follow smaller lenders (including ME, AMP, Suncorp, Bendigo Bank, Macquarie Bank, Bank of Queensland, ING, Pepper Group, IMB, Auswide and Teachers Mutual Bank) who have been raising interest rates on mortgage products from April 2018 onwards. This is due to a rise in the inter-bank Bank Bill Swap Rate (BBSW). It is speculated that the causes for BBSW changes include the US Federal reserve's increases in US rates and poor returns on Australian deposits drawing funds away to international markets and Australian equities for better returns, as well as income repatriation of large American companies following tax changes of Donald Trump. The funding gap between deposits and funds lent in Australia is estimated to have grown to A$457 billion in the first quarter of 2018. This is putting pressure on bank wholesale lending and profit margins, raising the likelihood of interest rate rises independently of the Reserve Bank of Australia by the big four banks, despite the ongoing Royal Commission. 7 December - "Uncharted territory", despite "the unemployment rate's been coming down, the economy's growing at a reasonable pace", RBA deputy Guy Debelle promotes further interest rate cuts and QE (quantitative easing) as methods to support housing prices. 2019 January 2019 - RBA releases a research discussion paper 'A Model of the Australian Housing Market', which concludes that the lower interest rates explain much of the rapid growth in housing prices and construction over the past few years. 7 February - Home prices across Sydney and Melbourne continue to fall as the RBA keeps rates on hold at 1.5 per cent for a record 29th month. 3 March - Matthias Cormann described (downward) flexibility in the rate of wage growth as “a deliberate design feature of our economic architecture”, ensuring wage growth is subdued, requiring the RBA to maintain low interest rates. 12 May - The Federal government seeks to increase first home owners entering the market, through introduction of the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme 4 June - The RBA drops interest rates to a record low of 1.25 per cent, suggesting further cuts were to come later in