The Bank of England has just made the decision to leave interest rates frozen at 0.75%.
The freeze follows an Autumn Budget heavily focussed on helping the smaller bricks and mortar retailers and will also encourage consumer sentiment and spend over the coming months.
This will be welcome news for the nation’s smaller businesses ahead of a Christmas period, a seasonal spike that many may be relying on for survival on the high street as a change in consumer behaviour and ever-increasing operating costs has seen many fall by the wayside over the last year.
A freeze in rates will also be welcomed by the property industry with buyer interest and overall market activity remaining muted, bringing a decline in the rate of house price growth as a result. While it’s unlikely to jump-start a stalling market it should at least maintain the low level of buyer demand seen over the previous months and help to drag the market over the line and into 2019.
Our Business Growth Guru and CEO, Andy Soloman, was on hand to comment on today's rates freeze..
“Great to see the Bank of England hold its nerve and keep interest rates static at 0.75%. This should deliver yet another boost for UK business off of the back of a favourable Autumn Budget for smaller bricks and mortar retailers in what has otherwise been a testing year at times.
While the Budget failed to deliver from a property point of view, this continued affordability of mortgage rates should at least sustain a muted level of buyer demand and keep an otherwise sluggish market on life support for the remainder of the year.”