It appears that homeowners will still have time to remortgage on the unchanged base rate of 0.5 per cent for a few more months according to analysts. Recent forecasts had called for an increase in the standard base interest rate of 0.5 per cent in the May meeting of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). This was due to the MPC having access to the first quarter’s financial data including the GDP. Now, analysts say May is not the month for a rate change because the first quarter data shows a still weak economy.

The GDP had revealed that the economy’s growth had reversed in the last quarter of 2010. This surprising information had stunned analysts and fought off any aspect of the MPC raising the interest rate despite inflation climbing. Had the first quarter of 2011 shown the economy had achieved substantial growth and inflation stayed high then the odds would have been more favorable for an increase. Instead, the growth of the economy was slight and not as much as had been hoped at 0.5 per cent.

This means that the last six months, with a fall in the last three months of 2010 of 0.5 per cent and slight growth of 0.5 per cent in the first three months of 2011, that the economy has stayed level since the third quarter of 2010. This is not the news of a strong economy that would warrant a change by the MPC of the interest rate in May. Quite a few economists have stated that the economy could not handle an interest rate increase and this recent data will certainly back up that argument.

This means that homeowners are going to have a longer span of time to now consider their remortgage. It should also mean that lenders will realize that homeowners are not in the same rush as they were a month or two ago. Instead, now lenders may become more competitive and begin offering attractive deals for the homeowner shopping for a remortgage.