Homeowners relieved as mortgage rates stay steady

The Bank of England has announced that it is not raising interest rates today, allowing homeowners to keep down the price of their mortgage.

Interest rates will remain at 5.75 per cent for the second month in a row, as a result of the turmoil of the international financial markets.

This indicates that homeowners will not see their mortgage rates hiked up for now, although experts have predicted that the base rate may still rise to six per cent by the end of the year.

It is thought that the decision not to raise interest rates may have partly been influenced by the increase in house repossessions, seen from figures released by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

The news is likely to be welcomed by money borrowers, who have seen five interest rate rises in the last year.

The interest rate increases have also resulted in a house price inflation slowdown, with figures from Halifax showing that the property rate increased by just 0.4 per cent last month.

06/09/2007 16:42:43