The Bank of England’s rate-setting body, the monetary policy committee (MPC), has voted to maintain the official cost of borrowing at 5.25 per cent, following a 0.25 per cent rise in the base rate last month.
If the bank had raised rates, which many pundits though was highly likely, homeowners with a typical 100,000 mortgage would pay 63.79 a month more than they did last August, according to the Independent.
The rate hold follows official figures revealing that mortgage approvals fell in December, suggesting to some experts that the August and November rate rises had started to take hold.
HSBC economist Karen Ward said: “We think the MPC signalled in January that they didn’t have any further hikes preconceived and we don’t think there has been the data to justify since then,” she said.
“The ones last year are still feeding through so it’s still going to take some time to have its full impact. It does look like things are slowing already.”
Last month, it emerged that inflation was at a 15-year high, which prompted many analysts to predict a rate rise before the summer.
Young people risk...
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