What’s Happening with Interest Rates in the UK?
Last year saw inflation finally hit its target of 2%, due to this, interest rates started to decline. In December 2024, however, the Bank of England held interest rates at 4.75%, leading many to believe there would be no further reductions to mortgage rates. The next Bank of England meeting will be on the 6th of February, which means until then, the direction of interest rates and, ultimately, mortgage rates will be unknown.When and by How Much Could Interest Fall?
We can somewhat gauge the direction of interest rates by keeping an eye on inflation, which unfortunately did start to rise again toward the end of last year. This means that an increase in interest rates may be possible however, many industry experts believe otherwise. Goldman Sachs analysts announced their prediction of a cut as low as 2.75% for interest rates by the end of 2025, while Santander’s experts predict a fall to 3.75%, and Barclay’s predicting a drop of 3.5%.How Are Mortgages Being Affected by Interest Rates?
Interest rates directly impact mortgage rates by influencing how expensive it is for lenders to borrow money, which they then pass on to homeowners and those seeking a mortgage in the form of higher or lower mortgage rates. Most mortgage lenders will use the Bank of England interest rate to measure where they should base their mortgage rates. Some will favour competition and lower their mortgage rates; others may prefer to play it safe and keep their rates the same or even increase them slightly.- Fixed Rate Mortgages - any change in base rate won’t immediately affect fixed-rate monthly payments, however, due to the ongoing fluctuations in interest rates, fixed-rate mortgages are much higher than they were.
- Tracker Mortgages & SVR (Standard Variable Rate) Mortgages – the impact of the base rate of interest immediately impacts those on tracker and SVR mortgages. If industry predictions are correct and we are due to see more rate cuts into 2025, those on tracker and SVR mortgages will likely see the most benefit.