Signs of a cooling housing market caused the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee to unanimously vote to keep interest rates at 5.75% in August, according to minutes released by the BoE today.
The minutes reveal that all nine member of the MPC chose to freeze interest rates, despite some analysts predicting a further rise to help combat inflation and control the housing market. However, the MPC said it would closely monitor the price and quantity of credit in order to assess whether a further credit squeeze is necessary. Interest rate rises have not dented homeowner confidence too much and research released today by Propertyfinder.com found that 83% believe house prices will rise over the next 12 months by an average of 5%. Warren Bright, chief executive of Propertyfinder.com,...
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