The Monetary Policy Committee today again decided to keep rates on hold at 0.5% marking 18 months since rates fell to this record low level.
While many of us still cannot believe where the time has gone, recent reports suggest that a growing number of people are beginning to worry about the harm that rising interest rates will cause as we inch ever closer to that time.
It will be interesting to see if chief Hawk Andrew Sentance has managed to persuade any other members of the committee to join him in calling for an early rate rise, however as inflation eased slightly in the last inflation report I suspect the status quo to be preserved.
As widely expected, the Bank of England have left base rate unchanged at the historically low level of 0.5%. Despite some speculation regarding Quantative Easing, the Bank decided to continue with the current £175bn programme, although a further £25bn later this year cannot be ruled out. The full article is published here
As you can see Monty’s blog has not been updated for a while, this has nothing to do with Monty’s lack of effort but a well deserved break with Lisa and Rafi in the New Forest. In his absence we thought it would be a good opportunity to jump into Monty’s space and see what’s happening.
Coreco towers was empty yesterday as 15 of us decamped to Derby for the MAB Conference and even with a five am start we still nearly missed the train from St Pancras. The event itself was superbly produced and presented and provided some great insight into what we might expect in 2010 and beyond. We will debrief Monty next week and provide a detailed summary.
A very interesting product was released today by Lloyds Tsb which shows two things. Firstly it has renewed my faith that lenders can still be innovative when the put their minds to it, and secondly that arguably this is a step towards lenders actively encouraging first time buyers back into the Market perhaps believing that house prices will begin to recover soon.
While there are a few conditions to this new mortgage product, they are far outweighed by the positives. 4.39% fixed for three years at 95% LTV is an exceptional rate and, presuming parents still have some spare cash floating around, will be a major fillip for certain first time buyers and therefore the market as a whole.
Andrew Montlake, Communications Director at Coreco and ‘Mortgage Personality of the Year 2008’, gives his views — honest and no holds barred — on the latest developments within the mortgage and property markets.
