Interest rates still on hold

The Committee also voted to maintain the stock of purchased assets financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £375 billion.

However speculation is mounting as to when rates will start to go up. Jeremy Duncombe, director at Legal & General Mortgage Club, said: “Interest rates have been at historic lows for over five and a half years now. This situation will not last forever and speculation over when rates will rise is mounting.

“There is a significant group of borrowers who have purchased their home since 2009, who have never lived through a rate rise. It is important that this group and others who may be coming to the end of their mortgage deals act now to manage the potential impact of a rate rise.

“The low rates on offer at the moment won’t last much longer and if consumers wait until interest rates have risen, they risk missing out on the best deals.

Simon Gammon, managing partner of Knight Frank Finance, believes the rate rise will happen sooner rather than later. Commenting he said: “"The Bank of England has kept rates on hold, but maybe for the last time.

“The countdown to the first rise is most definitely on with two members of the Bank's nine-strong rate-setting committee voting to raise rates to 0.75% at last month's rate-setting meeting, so it may only be a matter of weeks before they are in the majority.

“If they do not raise the interest rates soon it may appear too politically linked or be too unsettling to the economy so close to a general election. It would be more challenging to change things in the build up, or immediately after, the election. That would leave the bank considering a delay to perhaps as far away as next Autumn.”