Inflation is only one factor in lenders’ decisions to cut mortgage rates now.
Generally, Christmas is a quiet time for the housing market as potential buyers and sellers concentrate on turkey and trimmings instead.
So, they may be lowering rates in a bid to stimulate custom.
The same cannot be said for savings rates. “Competition has been scarce,” says Caitlyn Eastell, from Moneyfacts.
That is compounded by the fact that many of those buyers, sellers and savers have put plans on hold until they find out what happens in the Budget delivered by Chancellor Rachel Reeves on 26 November.
The Budget looms large over the housing market, with talk of taxation on high value properties, as well as over economic activity in general.
Reeves wants to introduce measures to lower the rate of inflation, and help people with the cost of living. However, she also needs to bring in more money or cut government spending to meet her own fiscal rules.
It is a delicate balancing act that will affect individual and family finances, affecting the money people have to spend in the supermarket and the appetite they have to save, as well as buy or sell a home.