Peter Bolton King, Chief Executive of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA), comments on this week’s decision concerning the Bank of England base rate from the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).
“House price monitors including our own national monthly survey have shown the rapid reaction of the market to the MPC’s rate rises last year, with a marked stabilisation in prices over the last quarter of 2004. This combined with the drastically reduced consumer spending over the festive period clearly indicates that it would be both undesirable and unnecessary for the MPC to inflict further interest rate increases at this stage.
“Instead, we believe it is time to bring the base rate back down. We condemned the last rise in August as foolhardy and believe that it is now time for the MPC to reverse the increase made then. This will go some way to preventing any further detrimental effect on the market as well as helping to ease the path for many people struggling to make an affordable step on to the housing ladder.”
