The research from the Worldwide Property Group confidence tracker survey carried out in May also shows that, of those respondents who believe rates could rise, nearly 70% thought this would only be a moderate rise by a maximum of 0.5%.
By comparison, at the start of the year, 40% of respondents believed an increase could be anything from 0.75% to 3% or more.
Other results from the survey revealed that only 16% of respondents believe that house prices will fall over the next 12 months, the lowest figure since the survey began. This could indicate that the public are of the impression that prices have levelled off and thus explains why 70% of respondents believe property is the best investment, with the same number of the opinion that now is a good time to invest in UK property.
Of the 58% of respondents who said they would consider making a foreign property investment, many appear to be focusing their attention on the America’s, with the USA holding number one spot, followed by the Caribbean and Brazil.
Commenting on the survey results, managing director of the Worldwide Property Group, Kevin Wilkes said: “By maintaining the base rate at 0.5% in May, the month that many had marked as the changing point, the Bank of England has offered renewed confidence to those expecting a rise and highlighted that the fragile state of the economy makes this an unlikely event for some time to come.”
