Blog Post

Are we at the peak of the base rate rise?

Publish Date: 29 March 2023

By Jade Shrubsole

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Further reading

Buying an HMO at auction

What to look out for when reading a legal pack

Are we at the peak of the base rate rise?

Last week we saw the Bank of England’s base rate hiked up to 4.25%. This was after inflation unexpectedly continued to rise through February. However, predictions still insist that we should see a fall in inflation over the coming months of 2023.

In the housing market, interest rate rises have put pressure on house prices. We have seen what we would call a ‘price correction’ phase. We would predict this trend is likely to continue, the rise in house prices previously was unattainable and couldn’t continue to rise at the rate they were.

In our recent March Newsletter, we noted evidence of declining figures for amount raised in this last quarter.  The declining numbers were mainly seen in the commercial sector, with the residential side experiencing a 29% increase in lots offered, a 16% increase in lots sold, but interestingly a 10% decline in amount raised. This could be a factor of both smaller value lots coming to auction coupled with the overall market readjusting pricing, as has been mentioned extensively in the press and media. 

It is hoped that by raising the base rate, inflation should start to fall sharply over the year.  This should then give lenders more confidence to start to edge down their rates. Hopefully meaning that we have reached the peak of the base rate rises.

Base Rate - Bank of England (4.25%)

Source: Bank of England