…that over the past two years I have on several occasions-from my command bunker at Cheshire Towers and posted in this medium-opined on the sooth-saying of many ‘city experts’. These modern day Tiresias’ have repeatedly, determinedly and latterly rather desperately commented that interest rates would/will/should/must rise. Equally forcibly, I have begged to differ. Even allowing for my Clark Gable-esque rapport with the fairer sex, (cue much harrumphing from those members of the sisterhood who only shave their legs when Harriet Harman says that it is permissible), I don’t actually have the old lady of Threadneedle Street on speed dial. Let us think about this: Mark Carney, the first non-British individual to sit in the big chair at the BOE was appointed by George Osborne. Any rise in interest rates before a general election would be political self-immolation. Yes, I know that the BOE is championed for its independence, but the old pals act of looking after each other is alive and kicking down the the door of No 11 Downing Street. Even though the experts (who are paid significantly more than an estate agent in the NP44 postcode), missed this, in my opinion Professor Thick of the Thick University, Thicksville should have seen this coming over the horizon.
Speaking of ‘The Smoke’, I was once told by that peon of sporting athleticism, Eric Bristow, to, “look where you are throwing and throw where you are looking”. What in the name of all things holy has that got to do with the property market, I hear you importune? Thirty years of filling my dance card in the crowded ballroom of the property market has taught me that home buyers and sellers react to their own personal circumstances; their actions are not predicated by the BOE interest rate. I have yet to have either a vendor or a potential purchaser inform me that a movement in the interest rate will influence their decision making in whether or not they choose to buy or sell. A seller’s principal interest is what their house is worth-now-and a buyer’s interest is in how much they can borrow and how much it will cost them-now. I have to point out that an expert’s opinion in a daily broadsheet has little bearing on the couple who have their heart set on that house in Varteg.
