Rate response may be encouraging

Yesterday may not have brought the most startling news in economic history when the Bank of England's monetary policy committee (MPC) announced it was cutting the base rate by 0.25 per cent for the third time in five months.

Revealing the news, the body said it had made its decision after assessing the comparative risks of inflation pushing upwards beyond the near-term surge the MPC had already accepted is happening and the alternative risk that low growth will see it undershooting the target.

It concluded: "In the committee's judgement, the balance of these risks to the inflation outlook in the medium term justifies a cut in Bank rate this month."

How clear this decision was will not become apparent until the minutes are released on April 23rd. But an immediate issue which may become clearer before then is the issue of whether the property market will be boosted by the banks passing on the rates to mortgage customers, other than where the customers are on tracker deals and thus automatically gaining the benefit.

Pre-empting the issue, the National Association of Estate Agents urged the banks not to hold back from passing on the reductions, as some feared. Chief Executive Peter Bolton King said: "Moving forward, it is now more critical than ever that mortgage lenders adopt a similar approach and lower mortgage rates in line with today's drop."

Yet the suspicion has persisted that many lenders, some of whom have form for such practices, would not pass on the cut. This morning the Daily Telegraph quoted Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at finance website uSwitch.com, suggesting many were "refusing to pass on interest rate cuts".

While it is true that this has been the case in the past, the evidence so far is at least that some of them are cutting standard variable rates. While First Direct's announcement that it had cut a rate that was "one the lowest from any major bank or building society" may mask the fact that it was in fact a 0.2 per cent cut rather than 0.25 per cent (from 6.2 per cent to six per cent), others have gone the whole way, offering a cut to existing lenders from early May and for new
borrowers from dates in April. Lenders to announce this so far include Alliance Leicester, NatWest, the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Co-operative Bank.

However, while the news so far may at least partially allay one concern, the impact of one rate cut may not be enough to reignite the whole market, the director general of the Council of Mortgage Lenders Michael Coogan suggested.

Mr Coogan stated: "In these dysfunctional market conditions, the base rate is not in itself a good guide to the cost or availability of funds to lenders." His suggested solution was a further cut next month along with the Bank of England injecting more liquidity into the market.

Therefore it may be that the move made by the Bank of England yesterday was another step towards the market recovering and offering some new prospects for investors, but more steps may be needed to ensure this is the case.

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Jim Barnaby is a real estate investment broker and successful property investment adviser delivering research and selected UK and overseas property investment solutions with experience in spanish properties, french property investment, German property, Cyprus holiday homes, Property in Cape Verde, German property investment, cape verde property buy to let property