The average UK mortgage rate has passed 5 per cent
Lenders have withdrawn more mortgage products than in any 48-hour period since the Liz Truss mini-Budget of 2022
Finance information website Moneyfacts said on Wednesday morning that over the past 48 hours, a total of 472 residential mortgage products had been withdrawn.
Meanwhile in an effort to lower oil prices the 32 member countries of the International Energy Agency have voted unanimously to a release of ‘strategic oil reserves’ in an attempt to bring energy prices down.
The 400 million barrels of oils to be dumped into markets will be the largest such move in the organisation’s history.
It comes as an internal UK government analysis seen by Bloomberg has found that in a worst-case scenario where the Iran conflict drags into May, the price of oil could soar above $150 a barrel.
The mid-range scenario seen by the British government is a protracted conflict that runs into the middle of April, which could see the price of oil rise to $130 with repeated spikes in gas prices.
The International Energy Agency said the “unprecedented size” of the release matches the scale of the challenge, while ships are unable to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
