The Bank of England is expected to push interest rates even higher next week at its latest meeting, putting further pressure on mortgages. In a crunch meeting, the nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee will make a decision that could push up the amount that millions of mortgage holders have to pay their banks every month.
The consequential decision is expected to push up the Bank’s base interest rate from 3% to 3.5% in December, to its highest for 14 years. The expected 0.5 percentage increase will represent a slight cooling in rate increases, after the Bank’s MPC opted for a 0.75 percentage point rise last month – the highest single increase since 1989.
It will also be the ninth time in a row that the Bank hikes interest rates. Less than a year ago the rate was 0.1%. Economists at Deutsche Bank said they expect the rate to increase to 3.5% at the Thursday, December 15, meeting, predicting five of the nine-strong committee to opt for this increase.
