The Office for National Statistics today announced that inflation had dropped from 6.7% in September to 4.6% in October, its lowest level for 2 years. Whilst the new figure is good news, it is still a long way off the Bank of England’s target rate of 2% but heading in the right direction.
The Chancellor will be delivering his Autumn statement on Wednesday 22nd November in which he will review the state of the economy and announce tax & public spending plans for the year ahead. What will happen next to the base rate, will it remain the same or will the Bank of England lower it? The Monetary Policy Committee meet on Thursday 14th December to set. Watch this space…
Focus on Mortgage Availability
According to the latest Moneyfacts Mortgage Trends Treasury Report the number of products on the market rose for the 4th consecutive month to 5,678, the highest level of availability in over 15 years. The last time there were more products available was March 2008 (6,192 products).
The overall average two and five year fixed rates fell between the start of October and the start of November to 6.29% and 5.86% respectively. The average two year fixed rate stands at 0.43% higher than the average five year fixed rate, a narrower gap than the 0.50% difference last month.
