Interest Rates

Mortgage blog: An interest rate hike on the horizon?

The Bank of England base rate has been at an all-time low of 0.50% since March 2009 and the days of being notified of what felt like constant base rate changes seems so long ago.

Interest Rates Could Reach 3.5% Next Year

Today's decision by the Bank of England's Monetary Committee to keep the base rate on hold at 0.5% for the 17th month in succession was widely anticipated, but UK interest rates could hit as high as 3.5% by the end of 2011 if the Bank of England is to keep a lid on high inflation, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation (OECD).

The OECD said: "Rates would have to start rising this year from the historically low level of 0.5% because inflation expectations were creeping up."

Interest rate freeze to benefit mortgage deals

18 March 2010

Mortgage borrowing rates could continue their recent fall over the next few weeks, after the Bank of England (BoE) voted unanimously earlier this month to keep interest rates unchanged at 0.5% and maintain quantitative easing at £200bn.

The minutes from the last meeting between the nine-strong monetary policy committee (MPC) revealed that they voted 9-0 to keep rates on hold, despite a split over how to tackle inflation and the fragile economic recovery.