Phil’s Diary - [Blog @ http://www.philsdiary.net/]
Interset rates have gone up today. The Bank of England has popped them up another 0.25%, in the hope of reducing debt and slowing down a housing price rise. Of couse for short term loans this won’t affect many. They’ll be less likely to take a loan out, but those who have them won’t suffer. So it’ll reduce debt on that front.
However, there’s the obvious (and now often in my mind) point of mortgages. The biggest loan you’re ever likely to take out, paid off over most of your life, and the one that is most definately affected by any hike in the mortgage rates.
So now, most of the country with a mortgage (a lot of people), suddenly finds they are worse off each month. Maybe this will stop house price rises, or more likely it’ll just cost everyone a little more.
Perhaps they should think about sorting out mortgages a little differently. Or longer fixed rate terms. Or something else altogether.
Posted by Phil on May 06, 2004 09:32 PM | Categories: Thoughts