The main housing news this week will be on Thursday when the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee will decide whether to cut interest rates or keep borrowing costs on hold.

Although most economists are predicting that we can expect a further one or two cuts this year it will not happen on Thursday. Why? Because inflationary pressures are still rising and cutting rates under those circumstances would damage the Bank's credibility.

Since last December the Bank has cut rates by 0.5 per cent from 5.75 to 5.25 per cent, but with inflation just above the Bank’s 2 per cent target at 2.2 per cent and rising food and fuel prices expected to push this to nearer 3 per cent I don’t think we can expect any good news for homeowners for a couple of months.

Whilst aspiring homeowners would love to see the predicition of Charles Goodhart, a former Monetary Policy Committee member, that interest rates could be safely cut to 4 per cent now materialise, sadly it is not going to happen