Unfortunately last week The Bank of England increased base rates to 1% from 0.75%. The base rate is used by the central bank to charge other banks and lenders when they borrow money – and directly influences what interest rates lenders charge for mortgages.
The increase means it is the fourth time in quick succession that the central bank has increased rates after it first lifted them to 0.25% from 0.1% in December last year. It then upped them to 0.5% in February, and to 0.75% in March.
At the same time, The Bank of England predicted that the rate of inflation could hit around 10% or even higher later in the year. It is therefore highly unlikely that mortgage rates will come down any time soon, in fact the opposite is true – we would expect interest rates to be moving upwards over the next year or so.
This means that if you have a mortgage already, you should give us a call to see if it’s possible to provide you with a longer term fixed rate.
If you haven’t got a mortgage yet and you want one, now is the time to call because it’s likely that mortgage rates are only going up in the foreseeable future. We have whole of market coverage and are specialists in self-employed and contractor mortgages - so we are best placed to get the best mortgage to fit your personal circumstances.
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Rob Starr
Crunch Mortgages