The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) met today and as expected they hiked the standard base interest rate. The rate was moved by 0.25% to 1.25% and is now the highest it has been in 13 years. The interest rate hike comes during a time when household budgets are already at a strain. Many were still in recovery mode from the pandemic and lockdowns. Inflation and higher costs of fuel and energy are also a concern, and for some the rate hike will cause financial difficulties.

Homeowners are being warned to take a look at the details of their current mortgage. For those that have little equity in their property, it could be time to set a strategy in place. The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will be meeting this week to determine if another rate hike is necessary. Experts believe it is definitely possible, especially due to the high rate of inflation, and because there is not a scheduled meeting for July. At a minimum, there is an expected increase of 0.25%, but it could be more.

The next meeting of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is days away. There is much discussion among experts and others about the outcome of the meeting. There are very few that believe the meeting will conclude without a hike to the standard base interest rate. Most do believe there will be a higher rate, but how much higher is still up for debate. Some believe that the MPC should be more aggressive and perhaps increases from here on out will be much higher than the slow and steady 0.25% increases seen so far.

For the fifth consecutive time, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) could increase the standard base interest rate. The meeting of the MPC is scheduled for 16 June. The expectation is that the vote will be for another increase of 0.25% and the new base rate will be 1.25%. However, there were members that would have liked for the last hike to be 0.50%, so there is always the possibility of a greater increase than 0.25%. Any increase will be a difficult one for those not prepared for higher loan repayments such as those holding mortgages.

Home buyers, once they have become homeowners, still have options after they choose their first mortgage deal. Once their term is expired, they have the choice to remortgage for a new deal or they can allow their lender to move their mortgage onto the lender’s standard variable rate (SVR). The SVR strategy, while an easy route to take since it requires little of the homeowner as there is no shopping to do, is considered risky. There are times when a SVR is a riskier choice than others and perhaps there has been no riskier time in over decades than right now. For if homeowners desire to not pay more than necessary, then a remortgage could be the only choice to save money.

The latest data from Nationwide Building Society has been released and it reveals that the UK housing market has kept interest from home buyers but could be slowing. House prices rose in May faster than they had in April with a 0.9% increase versus the 0.4% recorded for April. However, the annual rate declined slightly to 11.2% in May from the 12.1% recorded in April, which was attributed to lower house prices than the same time last year.