Rics in rate cut call - buy to let mortgages

Published: 13.5.2008

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has called on the Bank of England''s monetary policy committee (MPC) to cut interest rates when it next meets.

It made the call following news that most surveyors had seen a fall in house prices during April.

The majority of 95.1 per cent more seeing a fall than a rise was the highest ever recorded by the body.

Spokesman Ian Perry stated that while the actual level of house price falls was "modest", selling activity was down significantly and called on the Bank to take action to address this issue, which he said was the biggest problem posed by the property industry.

He said: "This is a key reason why the Bank of England should act at its next meeting by cutting the base rate."

Such a move could help reduce the cost of Buy to Let Mortgages.

The next meeting of the MPC will be on June 4th and 5th, before which the quarterly inflation report due out tomorrow and the publication of the minutes of this month''s meeting on May 21st Might give an indication of the likelihood of the MPC voting for a rate trimming next month.