Bank of England freezes interest rates

The Bank of England has today decided to keep interest rates on hold at 4.75 per cent for November.

12:00 04 November 2004

The Bank of England has today decided to keep interest rates on hold at 4.75 per cent for November.

The Bank's interest rate setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has raised rates five times in the past year but today's decision is the third month in a row where rates have been kept on hold.

This has led many observers to believe interest rates have peaked and might even be set to fall.

Today's decision was well trailed by analysts.

Just one of the 45 analysts polled by Reuters last week believed the MPC would increase rates.

Previously, analysts had predicted interest rates would rise to five or five and a quarter per cent before halting, but poor economic data has since seen economists revise predictions.

"We expect that rates have peaked, the next move being downwards in the second half of next year," said George Buckley, UK economist at Deutsche Bank.

This is good news for homeowners as mortgage holders will see mortgage payments remain constant.

Earlier this week HSBC's head of UK economics, John Butler, said any fall in rates could re-ignite a flagging property market.