Is it worth remortgaging?

By Sarah Modlock

Who says money is boring? With the month-by-month, will-they-wont-they drama of interest rates, there is more excitement - not to mention more ups and downs - than a Jackie Collins novel.

So what will the coming months bring for the millions of homeowners on tenterhooks for further base rate announcements by the Bank of England?

A base rate increase seemed inevitable in May and could be followed by another in the next couple of months. But why?

Inflation creeps up

The Bank of England is responsible for keeping inflation on or below a target of 2% but last month saw it break through this figure to reach a worrying 3.1%, the fastest rise for 10 years.

Although many factors are taken into consideration, the Bank is expected to raise rates in a bid to help reduce inflation. Higher inflation means a general rise in prices across the economy and is bad news for everyone, adding to the price of everything from a pint of milk to council tax.

More rises on the way?

And don't think this latest rise is the end of it, another increase of 0.25% pushing the base rate to 5.75% could be on the cards in coming months.

According to Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide's chief economist, the acceleration in house prices so far this year made a rate rise in May a certainty.

"While a stable economic environment with contained inflation is essential for a well behaved housing market, we would caution against too sharp an interest rate response to current economic data," she says.

Property market horror

"In our view, the talk of rates climbing to 6% and beyond are overblown and if implemented in the current climate could be damaging to housing market stability.

With the market already showing signs of cooling, too sharp a rate hike could undermine market confidence and dry demand up swiftly. But on top of this, they could also lead to widespread payment difficulties which, in an illiquid market, could precipitate price falls."

House prices keep motoring

The pace of house price growth almost doubled during April to 0.9%, up from 0.5% in March. This brings the annual rate of inflation back into double digits at 10.2% and the price of a typical house up to £180,314, which is £16,741 higher than at this time last year.