The rate freeze was a forgone conclusion, says Ray Bougler of mortgage broker John Charcol.
The main economic indicators that are the key to base rate decisions have shown little movement in the last month, so the outcome was never in doubt. Although next month looks likely to produce another freeze, the next Quarterly Inflation Report is due in May and so this cant be considered a forgone conclusion.
Bougler points out that a disproportionate number of base rate changes occur in the months of this Report.
Although we still expect the next move in base rate to be down, it now looks more likely that we will only see one cut this year. As a result of this, coupled with some cut-throat competition in the two-year fixed rate market, there is added reason to consider a fixed-rate now.
