While some economists were surprised by the Reserve Bank's decision to raise the cash rate on Tuesday, it wasn't a shock to home owners who have become accustomed to the rate rise environment.
The May hike marks one year since the rate rise cycle began, totaling 11 increases in 12 months.
Carmel Franklin, CEO at Canberra financial counselling service Care, said Tuesday's rate rise would add further pressure to those already "doing it tough".
"This comes on top of food prices having increased, fuel prices increasing," she said.
"So another interest rate rise means that those people who are already just on the edge are going to really struggle to make those additional repayments."
While Care's client base is traditionally those on low incomes, the organisation has heard from a broader section of the community since the rate rise cycle began.
"We're also now getting more people who are in the workforce, and even people who are working full time, who traditionally didn't need to access support services but are now finding that there's a lot of pressure and they are actually struggling to meet all of the payments that they've got," Ms Franklin said.
"We're noticing that a lot of the calls that we get are around housing and some of that is around mortgages, some of that is around rental stress."
The latest research from Roy Morgan shows the number of mortgage holders considered "at risk" of mortgage stress in the three months to March was the highest in more than a decade.
The research found 1.35 million mortgage holders (27.1 per cent) were "at risk" and another 835,000 (17.3 per cent) were considered "extremely at risk".
Roy Morgan modelling suggests nearly one in three mortgage holders could be considered "at risk" by June if the Reserve Bank increases the cash rate again next month.
Tuesday's decision didn't come as a surprise to Canberra couple Jalal Massadi and Hiam Souweid, who purchased their "dream house" in Conder 12 months ago.
At the time, the pair weren't overly concerned about rate rises, opting for a variable rate and telling The Canberra Times higher interest rates were something they were planning for.
But after several rate rises they decided to lock in a fixed rate to help keep on top of their finances.
"Locking in [our interest rate] was more so we could set our budget and stick to that budget without having to change things around all the time," he said.
While Mr Massadi said cost-of-living pressures were "a headache for everyone" planning ahead had eased some of the stress.
"When we were buying this house the first part of the discussion we had was, obviously cost of living is going to go up as it always does, so we had that in mind from the very start," he said.
CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless was optimistic the May rate rise was "likely to be the last in what has been the most rapid rate hiking cycle on record".
"Although inflation has been trending lower since peaking in the December quarter 2022, today's rate hike reflects the RBA's uncertainty about how 'sticky' inflation might be amid persistently tight labour markets and new evidence that housing prices have moved through their low point," he said.
The federal budget is expected to include cost-of-living support, something Ms Franklin is eager to see.
"We absolutely hope to see those in the budget because it's clear that there's a larger and larger portion of our community that are struggling," she said.
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