The MPC's decision to keep rates on hold at 5.75% may bring stability to the property market. A slowdown in activity over the past two months has been brought about by five rate rises over the past year.

This property market requires a period of consolidation; to have raised rates would have seriously affected confidence - particularly at the lower end of the market, where affordability is a real issue. By keeping rates on hold, the Bank can allow the property market to find its own equilibrium at its own pace.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders welcomed today's decision by the Bank of England's monetary policy committee to leave the rate unchanged at 5.75%.

Commenting on the decision, the CML's director general Michael Coogan said:

"Credit conditions have tightened since the rate went up in July, and a further increase would have added to the liquidity problems we are already seeing in some sections of the market. At the same time, there is now much clearer evidence that the cumulative effect of five rate rises since last August is slowing activity in the housing market. The Bank is right to wait and see, and if market conditions produce a further tightening of credit, it will strengthen the case that the next decision should be that rates go down, not up."