The Bank of England's suprise base rate cut has been welcomed by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
The director general of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) claims that the latest rate cut will help strengthen confidence in the UK economy.
During a meeting of the monetary policy committee (MPC) on October 8th, the Bank of England - alongside the Swiss National Bank, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of Japan, the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and Sveriges Riksbank - reduced the bank rate by 0.5 percentage points to 4.5 percent.
The last bank rate change was made on April 10th 2008, when it was reduced by 0.25 percentage points.
"All this decisive action augurs well for an improving market situation looking ahead, even though no one is pretending the tough times are over yet," said Michael Coogan of the CML.
Figures from the group indicate that there are currently 11.74 million mortgages in the UK, with total loans totalling more than £1.2 trillion
Meanwhile, the Bank of England asserted that following a month or two of increased inflation, it is possible that it may drop back as the pressure on the economy is eased.
Oil prices are "down substantially from their mid-summer peak", the bank stated, while commodity price pressures have calmed.
