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The Bank of England raised interest rates today as anticipated. The 4th increase since December 2021. The last time the base rate was at 1% was in 2009, 13 years ago. Unfortunately, it will rise further.

You can see the historic rates on the Bank of England website here.

Whether the base rates change depends on how the members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) vote. Today 9 votes were cast, and all voted to increase the base rate. However, 3 members Jonathan Haskel, Catherine Mann and Michael Saunders all voted to increase the rate to 1.5% whilst the others opted for 1%.

There was more bleak news in the form of inflation. Predictions now suggest that will increase to 10% by the year-end. Mostly due to the rising energy costs.

It impacts us all in one way or another.

For those looking at new mortgage lending just remember that with every rate increase, lenders increase their stress rate. I know that today several lenders now test whether borrowers could afford their mortgage if the rate was as high as 7%. This is really going to be a struggle for many on top of the increased energy and general livening cost which lenders will also increase as the year progresses.