Yesterday Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan says a rise in interest rates in Australia is "obvious" because they are sitting at 49-year lows. The Herald Sun reports.

Financial markets are already predicting the bank's official cash rate of three per cent will rise to four per cent by the middle of 2010, prompting lenders to lift mortgage rates in an election year.

In the last couple of months, this fear has rushed homeowners to lock in their mortgage rates; fearing interest rates have bottomed and will rise.