How do Interest Rates and Inflation Affect The Housing Market?

It’s the news story that shows no signs of going away in a hurry. Exacerbated by several interrelated factors – the aftershocks of covid, the war between Russia and Ukraine, global supply chain issues and Brexit – inflation has hit a 9 per cent high, something the UK hasn’t seen since the early-1980s. Not only that, but consumer confidence is at a low last experienced around 1974. In response, the Bank of England has raised interest rates. The rate was 0.1 per cent in 2021 until an increase to 0.25 that December. And since then, it’s crept up again and again, with the most recent jump in May 2022 taking it to 1 per cent – the highest it’s been since 2009 when the country was reeling from the financial crisis. Further eye-watering rises are expected, with experts predicting as much as a 2 per cent rise by the end of the year. It’s likely that interest rates will continue to go up until there’s a downturn in inflation, but there’s no immediate likelihood of that, so for now we can only buckle up and hope for the best. But what exactly does this mean for property prices, mortgages and moving house?