The Bank of England has held the base rate at 4% – but have you paid attention to the small print? We’ve spoken to one expert who has, and it may be good news for your mortgage. Read that and all upcoming personal finance and consumer news today right here.
Friday 7 November 2025 06:54, UK
Mortgage rates are high, house prices are rising again and saving for a deposit has become increasingly difficult. So what is the process of buying and selling a home really like in 2025? Over this year, we’ve been finding out with a buyer and a seller. Today, buyer Minreet Kaur tells Money live reporter Jess Sharp about a change of tactics, while seller Denise Palmer Davies drops a bombshell.
The mission
With a £650,000 budget, Minreet is looking for a three or four-bedroom property that suits all her family’s needs. Her mum suffers from incurable blood cancer, her dad needs space for his garden tools and a prayer room is on the list for all of them to use.
She is looking in Windsor, Egham or Burnham, but she’s discovering anything in her price range isn’t much bigger than where she is now in Hayes, Middlesex.
‘The houses don’t look like the photos’
After home hunting for more than six months, Minreet is doing up to six viewings a week in hope of finding somewhere suitable.
“The houses don’t all look like they do in the photos. It’s such a lot of work, it’s like a full-time job and it’s the most stressful thing,” she says.
“Prices are so expensive for even the smallest houses in and around Greater London.
“The worst house viewing was a four-bed detached house in Windsor. It looked really nice in the photos but in person it wasn’t very clean… it looked nothing like the photos online. It was much smaller and very deceiving.”
‘It would be better for us to move abroad’
The search has become so dire, Minreet says she is starting to think it would be better if her family moved abroad.
“We would have a better quality of life,” she says. “The rich get it all and working class people like myself are struggling. It’s not fair.”
Having previously ruled out new build homes, she has started considering them and has increased her search radius to Buckinghamshire and Reading, even though it would be harder for her parents to live there.
She is also looking at the option of buying a smaller property that has the potential to be extended.
“My heart isn’t in it. The biggest challenge is finding a house that feels like a home and putting in offers and having to go back and forth and other people are putting in higher offers,” she says.
‘There’s black mould in our house and my mum is sleeping on the sofa’
The stress has been taking a toll on Minreet, and she has been suffering from anxiety and migraines.
“I can’t sleep at night and am constantly looking on Rightmove, Zoopla, On The Market and even asking friends. I am desperate to move and it’s making me feel a lot of pressure,” she says.
“I get very down and tearful because my mum sleeps on the sofa and our current house is getting older day by day. I also keep getting a tickly cough and I think it’s because of the black mould in our house.
“I just pray a miracle happens and we can find something before end of the year. I am hopeful and have faith but really what I need is some support and these house prices to be more realistic.”
The mission
Denise was on a mission to sell her £1.5m home in Esher, Surrey, to buy her dream home in the village.
The house she wanted was quickly snapped up, unfortunately, and she was left searching for somewhere new.
Determined to stay in the village to be close to family, she set her sights on another property on the market that was already under offer…
“As luck would have it, by offering just a little more, our offer was accepted. At the same time, we received an offer on our own house, which we gladly accepted. Our buyer and estate agent assured us that the timeframe for completion would be around six to eight weeks,” she says.
Happy days?
‘We were excited – and then we had devastating news’
After months of waiting, the process was finally moving. Denise and her family were “excited”, but then she received the “devastating” news that her buyer’s buyer had pulled out and the chain was broken.
“We had no choice but to inform our estate agent and the trust selling the property that there would be a delay until our buyer could find a replacement.
“Thankfully, after reducing their price, our buyer found another buyer within two weeks, but the whole chain had been pushed back significantly,” she says.
‘We lost out again – and ended back at square one’
While two weeks doesn’t sound like a long time, it was long enough for the seller of Denise’s (next) dream home to grow impatient.
The person whose offer Denise had beaten got back in touch, this time with an offer that was chain-free.
Even though it was lower, the seller was eager to finalise a sale and accepted.
“We lost out again, and we had to tell our buyer that we no longer had a property to move to,” Denise says.
She gave them the option of waiting or increasing their offer to contribute towards the cost of her family moving into rented accommodation while they continued their hunt.
But after a month, her buyers grew restless, pulled out of the deal and found another property.
“We’re back to square one,” Denise says.
‘We took our property off the market’
After months of false starts, Denise decided it was best to take a beat and pulled her property from the market.
“With so few properties on the market, and our wish to stay in our lovely village, nothing suitable came up,” she says.
“After much thought, we’ve decided to take our property off the market and relaunch early next year. It’s been one disappointment after another but perhaps it just wasn’t meant to be this time.”
Every Friday, we take an overview of the mortgage market with industry experts. Today, Moneyfactscompare.co.uk expert Rachel Springall outlines what has been happening within the buy-to-let market, but before that, we take a look at the fallout from yesterday’s interest rate call…
The Bank of England’s decision to hold the base interest rate yesterday could kick off a price war, according to a financial planner.
Lorna Hopes, mortgage specialist at the chartered financial advisers Smith & Pinching, says that in the small print, the Bank has been increasingly hinting at the possibility of a rate cut before Christmas.
Its tone could prompt swap rates to fall, and consequently lenders shaving their fixed rates further in coming weeks.
Competition between lenders had been heating up before the announcement, she says, and “the small print behind the Bank’s decision could now light the touchpaper on a fixed rate price war”.
She adds: “Assuming this month’s budget doesn’t derail things, the market now expects two or possibly three further base rate cuts by the middle of next year.”
Buy-to-let guide
The buy-to-let market was among those seeing cuts ahead of the Bank’s decision, with a week-on-week fall in average two and five-year fixed rates to 4.77% and 5.17%, Springall says.
Virgin Money and Family Building Society cut rates by up to 0.1%, Leeds Building Society by up to 0.2% and Mortgage Works went furthest, chopping off 0.3%.
There were also new limited company deals launched by Aldermore and CHL Mortgages.
Propsective landlords should also consider changes enacted by the Renters’ Rights Act and rumours the chancellor will levy national insurance contributions on pre-mortgage profits in the upcoming budget, Springall says.
“The cost of finance is a fundamental part of becoming a landlord, as tax changes over the years have led to a more challenging situation for investors to hit desirable profit margins.
“Those who do not have buy-to-lets held in a limited company could get hit if NICs are levied on pre-mortgage profits.”
More reaction to the Bank of England’s decision to hold interest rates now.
Harriet Guevara, Nottingham Building Society’s chief savings officer, tells us that despite the rate hold today, there are expectations for a “cut in December” (as other analysts have predicted below).
“The end of the year could mark the start of a new chapter for interest rates, and for millions of savers and borrowers,” she says.
Her advice for Britons trying to save is: “Base rate reductions tend to feed through into lower returns over time, so this is an important moment to lock in value where you can.
“Fixed-rate savings products, especially Cash ISAs, remain compelling while rates are still relatively strong.
“With further cuts likely on the horizon, it makes sense to act sooner rather than later.”
The government’s ISA consultations should also be watched closely, Guevara adds, especially given the potential of reforms to the limits on how much of your allowance can be held in cash.
Then on the mortgage front, she says:
“Any reduction in the base rate could signal a gradual easing in the cost of borrowing. While we’re unlikely to see an immediate change in mortgage pricing, those coming to the end of fixed deals later this year may find better options opening up. Now is the time to review your finances and be ready to take advantage of changing conditions.”
It would be “logical” to expect the Bank of England to cut interest rates in December, despite its decision to hold the base rate today.
We’ve heard that from a number of commentators and experts already and Martin Beck, chief economist at WPI Strategy, agrees.
He says the narrow 5-4 split on the Monetary Policy Committee shows close a cut could be, and reinforces WPI’s prediction for a cut in december.
Beck adds: “That it doesn’t appear that it will take much for Bailey to switch votes is one reason why we expect a December cut.”
The budget – and the expected measures to improve the public finances – is another reason to expect a cut, Beck says.
“The upcoming budget is likely to tighten policy by £30bn to £40 bn through a combination of tax rises and spending restraint,” he says
That “scale of fiscal squeeze would justify a 25–50 basis point reduction in Bank rate”, he adds
“A December rate cut would therefore be a logical step to sustain growth momentum while guiding inflation back to target in an orderly manner.”
We’ve had some guidance in from Money blog regular David Hollingworth, a director at L&C Mortgages. He says…
Tracker and variable rates
It’s a case of “as you were” for those on variable rates.
Lenders can alter their standard variable rate at any time but with a hold decision it’s unlikely we’ll see any moves.
Those that are on SVR should generally see this as a good trigger to reviewing their options. It’s rarely a good place for a mortgage borrower to be and those holding out for more cuts before taking a new deal may want to think about how much that delay will cost in the meantime.
SVR rates are often of the order of 7-7.5%, while the best deals are now well below 4% – the savings could be thousands per annum.
A £200,000 25-year repayment mortgage at 7.49% would cost £1,477pm.
Cutting the rate to 4% would reduce the monthly payment to £1,056pm, a £420 saving.
Fixed rates
The good news for fixed-rate borrowers coming to the end of a deal is that rates have been falling.
Today’s decision shouldn’t affect that downward trajectory and we could see some more lenders edging rates down slightly in an effort to keep up with the leaders.
The case for easing interest rates was “clear” and the Bank of England “should have gone further” by cutting rates today to support the economy.
That’s according to William Ellis, a senior economist at the Institute for Public Policy Research thinktank.
“Monetary policy remains tight, and the Bank of England should have gone further today by cutting rates to support the economy,” he says.
“With inflation flat since the last decision, sluggish growth, and a cooling labour market, the case for easing is clear.
“As with the US Federal Reserve, the Bank should also have completely stopped active gilt sales. These sales are not needed to control inflation and currently place unwarranted pressure on UK borrowing costs and the taxpayer.
“With low economic growth and a tax-raising budget set to lean against demand, the Bank of England will have to do more of the heavy lifting to support the economy.”
“If you’ve been with the same savings provider for a while, now is a good time to shop around and see if your money could be working harder.”
That’s the advice from Which?’s retail and money editor Reena Sewraz, following the interest rate hold today.
She says that while those with a mortgage may be disappointed, there is good news.
“Movement in the market has nonetheless been ramping up in the last week, with increasingly competitive offers available,” she explains.
Savers, though, should start shopping around, she says, because “many of the UK’s biggest banks are offering savers a sub-par rate of return”.
“Many digital banks and building societies are currently offering much more competitive rates than those on the high street,” she adds.
“If you’re prepared to put your money away for longer, now may also be a good time to consider a fixed rate savings bond to lock in a good rate, as it’s possible the Bank may cut rates at its next meeting.”
Jagjit Chadha, a professor of economics at Cambridge University, gives his reaction to the news that interest rates have been held.
He tells presenter Gareth Barlow:
“There’s no particular reason for rates to be cut right now. Inflation is hovering worryingly near 4%, which is the same level as the Bank rate. And it’s important that we are vigilant against an increase in inflation. It’s just two years ago that inflation was over 11%.”
Chadha adds that he “welcomes” no change and warns “these are very difficult times”.
He also tells us that he agrees that the upcoming budget would have played into the thinking of the Monetary Policy Committee when it made its decision.
“We have to move in a very circumspect manner in moving the Bank rate down, and the way fiscal policy will be announced at the budget at the end of this month will, of course, be important,” he tells us.
The Bank, he says, is right not to preempt the chancellor or to provide an “incentive by cutting Bank rate” for fiscal policy to be looser.
Watch the interview in full here…
While the Bank of England’s hold on interest rates is today’s big news, it also updated its predictions for the UK’s economy and jobs market.
It’s now predicting slightly better economic growth than previously expected this year – at 1.5% by the end of the year, up from the 1.2% the Bank predicted in August.
Growth will then slow to 1.2% in 2026, the Bank’s forecasts say, unchanged from its previous forecast.
However, the unemployment rate is now predicted to go up.
A weakening jobs market could see the rate rise to 5.1% by spring next year. This is higher than the 5% peak the Bank predicted before.
Employment growth is expected to remain “subdued” due to declining job vacancies and because of firms cutting back on hiring in response to higher taxes, the Bank said.
The news conference has now finished.
Scroll back below to catch up on what Andrew Bailey said after the Bank of England held interest rates at 4%.
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