The bank’s announcement yesterday afternoon pushed the Australian dollar one cent higher to more than US84c, the first time it has reached that level since the start of the financial crisis. The sharemarket climbed another 1 per cent to its highest point since November.

Yesterday’s statement was the first in six months to announce neither a cut in rates nor the contemplation of a further cut.

Instead the board expressed concern that improving conditions might ‘‘impinge on prospects for sustainable growth and achieving the inflation target’’, enough to make the market price in an even-money chance of a rate rise in November, and a total of 2 percentage points of rate increases by end of next year.

Such rises would push variable mortgage rates back up above 7 per cent by late next year and add $300 to the monthly cost of servicing a $300,000 loan.

Adding weight to the bank’s contention that ‘‘the risk of a severe contraction in the Australian economy has abated’’, retail figures showed spending in NSW climbing to yet another record high. National spending slipped 1.4 per cent in June but remained more than $1 billion above where it was before the onset of the financial crisis.

Also released was official confirmation of house prices soaring back to pre-crisis levels. The Bureau of Statistics’ weighted average of Sydney house prices jumped 4.9 per cent between the March and June quarters, its biggest jump since the height of the real estate boom in 2003. The Sydney index is now just 2.8 per cent short of its all-time high.

A Deutsche Bank economist, Tony Meer, said the Reserve Bank would be concerned, pointing to last week’s speech by its governor, Glenn Stevens, who said it would be ‘‘quite disturbing’’ if recovery boosted house prices without providing many more dwellings.