The Commonwealth Bank has announced a shock rise in interest rates, lifting its variable home loan rate by 10 basis points to 5.74 per cent because of what it says are increased long-term funding costs.

The CBA has also confirmed that some home loans with fixed interest rates will rise by 0.1 per cent from 5.13 to 5.23 per cent.

The other three major banks have not made any announcement on their rates.

Ross McEwan of the bank's Retail Banking Services says the decision has been made reluctantly.

"We fully understand that any increase in interest rates impacts on our customers and for that reason have continued to absorb as much of the additional funding costs for as long as we could," he said in a statement.

"Unfortunately, we have seen the bank's wholesale funding costs remain high and continue to increase as previous long-term funding matures and is replaced with new funding at significantly higher cost.

"At the same time, due to intense competition for retail deposits, the cost of deposits compared to the official cash rate is extremely high."

The rise means that on a $300,000, 25-year loan there would be an $18 per month increase on repayments.

The official cash rate is now at 3 per cent, with the Reserve Bank having slashed 4.25 percentage points off it since last September.

In February the Commonwealth Bank announced a net half-year profit of over $2.5 billion which it said was an increase of 9 per cent on the previous period.

The Federal Government has previously said the banks should pass on as much of the rate cuts as they can to customers.