The Bank of England is set to raise interest rates for the 10th time in succession when its policymakers meet on Thursday.
Financial markets expect a 0.5 percentage point increase in the central bank’s base rate to 4%, its highest level since the 2008 financial crisis. It comes after nine straight rate increases from the Bank’s monetary policy committee since December 2021.
After the rate increase expected this week, most economists polled by Reuters envisage one more rate rise – to 4.25% in March – while financial markets price in the tightening cycle ending in the middle of this year at 4.5%.
Act now to secure rates
With interest rates set to rise tomorrow, we highly recommend you act now in order to secure the most competitive products. It is important we stress that some lenders are likely to withdraw products in response to the rate rise.
Take advantage of our FlexiLock Service
Our “FlexiLock” service was created to support our clients in times of volatility.
Opting for the service means we’ll search the market for the most suitable product for you and continue to monitor this right up until the product goes live. If we find a lower cost or more fitting product for your circumstances, we will switch the product over.
In practice this means cancelling the rate we had secured and swapping over to the improved rate. This is done with no extra charge to you.
If you have recently been provided with an illustration by our team, it is imperative that you contact us to secure the product.
Speak to our award winning brokers today on 0208 364 3444 or follow this link to book an appointment: https://mortgagesandinsurers.co.uk/get-a-quote/
Some buyers hold off entering the market
Zoopla’s latest house price index revealed that a portion of buyers are holding off entering the market to see if house prices and mortgage rates start to fall more quickly.
Data found that while demand for homes has rebounded in the first weeks of January in line with pre-pandemic levels, the start to 2023 is “more of a slow burn” than in recent years.
Value-conscious early buyers have shifted their buying preferences towards flats, with over a quarter of new buyers (27%) now looking for one and two-bed flats, up 5% in comparison to a year ago.
In contrast, the share of demand for three-bed houses has fallen five percentage points to 39%, although Zoopla highlights that they are still the most in-demand homes across the UK.
Developers given six week deadline for cladding fund
Building firms have now received legally binding contracts worth £2bn that will commit them to pay to repair unsafe buildings, from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Michael Gove, has set a six-week deadline for developers to sign the legal agreements and is warning that companies who fail to do so “will face significant consequences”.
Under the contract, developers will commit “an estimated £2bn or more” for repairs to buildings they developed or refurbished over the past 30 years.
Almost half of Britons say scrap leaseholds: YouGov
Almost half of Britons support scrapping leasehold homeownership, which the government is in the middle of attempting to reform, according to the latest poll from YouGov.
The survey found that 28% of those asked strongly support abolishing this system where a householder owns a property for an agreed number of years, while 19% somewhat supported the move.
In 2020-21, there were an estimated 4.9 million leasehold households in England, which equates to 20% of the English housing stock.