Lenders have been offering low interest rates on their mortgages and remortgages and there is no reason to expect anything to change in the near future.  This means that homeowners hoping to remortgage have the time to get the remortgage paperwork completed and move toward an approval.  Home buyers can take their time to shop and discover the home they want without pressure to hurry due to warnings of rising interest rates.

The Funding for Lending scheme introduced in August by the Bank of England has enabled lenders to make cheap interest rate offerings.  Rather than borrowing off of the global lending market the funding for loans can be found with the government at cheaper rates.  The savings is then transferred to borrowers that will benefit by cheaper interest rates.

Demand for remortgages from homeowners and mortgages from home buyers has not reflected an overwhelming response to the lower interest rates being offered.  Experts believe that it is likely the need for confidence in the economy to grow.  Just recently it was announced by the Office of National Statistics that the UK economy had immerged from a double dip recession. 

The ever present problems in the eurozone and the weak economy in the US are having an impact on the growth of our own economy in the UK.  Once confidence begins to rise then it is thought that buyers will return to the housing market.  The return of buyers to the housing market is needed to thaw out the currently frozen property ladder where there are no buyers for starter homes.  Without buyers of starter homes the homeowners wanting to upgrade to a larger property cannot do so.  Meanwhile, without homeowners moving up the ladder those wanting to downgrade their properties cannot move home either.  The property ladder remains frozen and will not begin to see movement until the first time buyers return to the housing market.