Lenders will need to be canny - comment on inflation by Adam Oldfield at Phoebus Software

16 August 2023

Adam Oldfield, chief revenue officer at Phoebus Software, says “Although it is in line with many predictions, it is good to see inflation come down below 7%. The hope was that it might get down to 5% by the end of the year, but there may be a couple of factors that will have had an effect when we see next month’s figure.

“Prices at the petrol pumps have been going up this month which, along with rising wages, has the potential to push inflation up again next month. With this in mind the Bank of England is highly unlikely to veer away from its current path, and another base rate rise is likely to be on the horizon. For the housing market and mortgagers in particular this would be another blow, especially when we are already seeing arrears increasing. The recent rate cuts on fixed rates has given a bit of hope for some I’m sure, but there seems no respite for those that now find themselves on SVRs. Lenders will need to be canny to meet their lending quotas in the last few months of the year as borrowers face the dilemma of whether to fix now or wait.”