Following 14 consecutive increases in the Base Rate, starting from 0.1 per cent in December 2021 and reaching 5.25 per cent presently, the committee of nine economic experts voted six to three in favour of maintaining steady rates.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR MORTGAGES?
There won’t be any immediate direct changes, but the previous rises in the base rate have already impacted the mortgage market significantly, as per insights from Moneyfacts.
Rachel Springall, a finance expert at the independent financial information provider, noted, “The past two years have seen an unprecedented period of interest rate fluctuations for mortgages.”
Springall added, “Those transitioning from a fixed-rate deal and looking to fix again will likely face substantially higher mortgage repayments, given that the average two-year fixed rate has more than doubled since December 2021.”
Moneyfacts reported that at the beginning of December 2021, the average fixed rate for a two-year mortgage was 2.34%. However, by the start of this month, that rate had surged to 6.04%.
