For the ninth consecutive month, the Bank of England (BoE) has left the base rate unchanged at 0.5% and left its quantitative easing (QE) programme at £200bn, having just extended it by £25bn in November.

It has not ruled out any extension to its QE programme, with some indication that it could raise it by another £40bn, due to risks to growth greater than those highlighted in the latest Inflation report.

James Thomas , head of residential development and investment at Jones Lang LaSalle, said: “House price growth has strengthened further in the most recent months, with the Nationwide index recording a +0.5% increase during November. The pace of house price increase, however, is slowing down with the three-month on three-month comparison showing the rate of increase moderating to 2.8% in November from 3.5% in October. Similarly, the number of new mortgage approvals and the new buyer enquiries have started to slacken slightly heading into the end of the year.”

Simon Gammon, head of Knight Frank Finance, added: “Even though some countries such as Australia have started to raise interest rates, we still do not expect rates in the UK to rise for at least six to nine months and possibly not until 2011.

“Even though five-year fixed-rates are now available at under 5%, many of our clients are still opting for tracker mortgages allowing them to keep their options open with the confidence that rates are not likely to suddenly change soon,”

The BoE stated that base rates were most likely to maintain at the current level for the majority of 2010.