Currently, the Bank of England base rate is set at 5.25% and it is widely anticipated that these will not fall or rise this week, but remain the same.
There has been no change in this rate for 4 months now, the 9 person committee meets to look at economic factors and though the UK economy is officially in recession, inflation is on a downward path.
Interest rates are highly likely then to stay at 5,25% this month.
Robert Wood, a chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics states:
“The MPC focuses on the ‘tightness of labour market conditions, wage growth and services price inflation’ to judge ‘how long Bank Rate should be maintained at its current level'”.
“We think the data have not surprised enough to trigger a change in guidance at the MPC’s meeting on March 21st.”
Those on a fixed rate mortgage will not see any difference, regardless of the meeting outcome on Thursday, but those on variable or trackers will not experience a rise in mortgage costs, it is hoped.
Those with savings are the ones who benefit most from rising interest rates.
Currently, the best offers in the mortgage market can often be found below the Bank of England base rate.
Examples for mortgages for £200,000 on a property valued at £280,000 include:
- Furness Building Society
- AIB
- Lloyds
- Barclays
- HSBC
All 5 offer sub-5% fixed rate mortgage deals on the above example, with Furness offering an eye-catching 2.11% rate fixed for 2 years.
Locally, Hogan’s Leeds are finding that properties we market for sale or to let are going quickly. Properties in Harehills, our base, are much lower priced than national and local averages and we’ve also marketed properties in Seacroft, East End Park and Beeston, that haven’t lingered long on Rightmove without offers and sales.
You can see our Rightmove micro-site here.
Remember too that if your property in Leeds is not attracting viewers, or offers, we have a Fast Sale option.
You can see how it works here.
Because we are an established, long-serving Leeds estate agency, we have a vast database of potential buyers and a Facebook page with over 4000 followers, meaning that any property we advertise quickly gathers thousands of views, many e-mails and phone calls.
You can see how many are marked SSTC in a relatively short space of time.
We do hope that interest rates remain pegged this week. The property market, with 4 Prime Ministers in recent years, a Covid 19 pandemic has created property turbulence.
Easter is shortly upon us and that is always a busy time in our office, and we expect to see listings and enquiries grow.
Do contact us today if you’d like to find out more about our services.
