The Committee also voted to maintain the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £200 billion.

The Committee’s latest inflation and output projections will appear in the Inflation Report to be published at 10.30am on Wednesday 12 May 2010.

The minutes of the meeting will be published at 9.30am on Wednesday 19 May.

Change to Personal Allowance

No changes to basic and higher rates, however from April 2010 there will be an additional rate band of tax. In April 2009 Budget the Government announced that it would be introducing a new 50% rate of tax on income above £150,000 from April 2010.

In April 2009 Budget the Government announced that with effect from 6th April 2010 individuals receiving an income of more than £100,000 per year would face a cut in their Personal Allowance. This would reduce by £1 for every £2 of income above £100,000.

This was restated in the March 2010 Budget.

Inheritance Tax

The nil rate band of Inheritance Tax will be frozen at £325,000 until 2014/2015.

Stamp Duty Allowance

For first time buyers Stamp Duty Allowance will double from £125,000 to £250,000 (from midnight on 24th March).

This is anticipated to be funded by a new 5% band of tax being introduced in the 2011/12 tax year on properties sold for £1,000,000 +.

Capital Gains Tax

The current CGT rate remains unchanged. However, Entrepreneurs’ Relief for CGT will be extended from £1m to the first £2m of qualifying gains made over a lifetime. This takes effect from April 2010.

Annual ISA limit

As announced earlier, for savers, from April 2010 the annual ISA limit will rise from £7,200 to £10,200. Future ISA limits will be indexed by RPI.

Winter Fuel Payments

The Government will guarantee payments for another year – this will be at least £250 for pensioners (£400 for those over-80′s).

Business Rates

Business rates will be cut for one year from October for SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises).

Tax credit

Individuals over the age of 60 will now be eligible for Working Tax Credit provided they work for at least 16 hours a week.

National Insurance

In the March 2010 Budget it was restated that employee, employer and self-employed rates of National Insurance contributions (NICs) will increase by 0.5% from April 2011 in addition to the 0.5% increase announced in 2008. However the level at which people start to pay NICs will increase in April 2011 by £570 above the level previously announced.

Personal pensions tax relief

In their April 2009 Budget, the Government announced that with effect from 6th April 2011, tax relief on pension contributions would be restricted for those with gross income in excess of £150,000. These are referred to as the ‘permanent changes’.

The Act also included ‘anti-forestalling restrictions’ to prevent higher earners from paying unusually large pension contribution to take advantage of current tax benefits prior to the permanent changes coming into play in 2011.

Alongside the March 2010 Budget, the Government has outlined its plans for introducing these changes.

“Greater London was the best performing region in the quarter; prices rose by a seasonally adjusted 3.4%. This increase pushed the annual rate of change up from -1.9% to 7.0%, making London the best performing region over 2009.

“Outside of London, the East Midlands saw the strongest quarterly performance within the English regions, with a 2.8% rise in prices over the quarter, bringing the annual rate of change up from -5.4% to 2.5%. The Outer Metropolitan and Outer South East regions continued to see above average growth in the quarter and were the second and third best performing regions, with annual growth of 6.4% and 5.5% respectively.

“The northern regions generally saw weaker growth, in particular the North where prices rose just 0.4% in the quarter. The North was also the only English region not to see prices rise across the year as a whole, with an annual price change of -2.0%.

“House prices in Scotland rose 1.9% during the quarter, slightly above the UK average. This was enough to push the annual rate of change into positive territory, with prices up 1.0% compared to the fourth quarter of 2008. Quarterly price growth in Wales remained relatively weak in the fourth quarter, with a 0.9% rise recorded, leaving average prices marginally lower than one year earlier.

“Reversing the large increase seen in the third quarter, prices in Northern Ireland fell by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. On an annual basis, house prices were down 6.7%, a modest improvement from the 8% year-on-year fall in the third quarter. Northern Ireland remains the worst performing UK region.

Wales top performing UK country over last decade

“Despite the sharp house price falls seen in 2008 and the first half of 2009, the 2000s has generally been a very strong decade in terms of house price growth. In nominal terms, house prices in the UK rose 117% between 1999 Q4 and 2009 Q4. Taking into account overall retail price inflation over the period, prices have risen by 68% in real terms, the strongest decade on record. This compares with a 14% fall in real terms during the 1990s.

“Wales has been the top performing country over the 2000s; house prices have risen 82% in real terms.  This sharply contrasts with the 1990s, where Wales saw prices fall by 24% in real terms.

“England overall has seen the weakest growth over the 2000s of 65%, although this has varied widely across the regions. Within England, Yorkshire and Humberside has seen the strongest growth, with prices rising 84% in real terms, whilst the Outer Metropolitan region has experienced the weakest growth, with a 51% increase.

The strong growth seen in Yorkshire and Humberside might reflect that it started the decade as one of the most affordable regions, with a house price to earnings ratio of 3.0 (compared with the UK average of 3.6 in 2000 Q1).

“Whilst the strong housing market performance of the 2000s is good news for homeowners, it is less positive for those looking to get on the housing ladder. Affordability has improved since the peak in house prices in 2007, but we will enter 2010 with house price to earnings ratios across the regions at a much higher level than the start of any other decade.”

The MPC also voted to continue with its programme of Quantitative Easing (QE) – which was extended by an additional £25 billion last month to £200 billion – a move welcomed by businesses who believed that the economy would stall without it.

Property transactions averaged 41,911 sales per month during the months from March to June 2009. In the same period in 2008, the average was 60,997 sales per month.

London and the West Midlands experienced the greatest monthly price rise with a movement of 0.8%. The average property price in the capital is now £310,640. All regions experienced a decrease in their average property values over the last 12 months. The region with the most significant annual price fall was the North West with a movement of -12.7%. Hartlepool experienced the greatest annual price fall with a drop of 23.7%.

The most up-to-date figures available show that during June 2009 the number of completed house sales in England and Wales fell by 17% to 48,903 from 58,636 in June 2008, monthly sales in England and Wales have risen steadily during the first half of the year – up from 26,517 in January.

By comparison, those with a 40% deposit have seen a 1.86% reduction in the average mortgage rate.

Borrowers with a 10% deposit taking out a new two year deal on a £150,000 mortgage will only see their monthly repayment fall £11 from £988 to £977, while those with a 40% deposit see a reduction of £165 per month from £998 to £833.

Michelle Slade, spokesperson at Moneyfacts.co.uk, commented: “A higher margin for risk is expected on a 90% LTV deal, but a 4.25% margin over the cost of funding seems excessive and difficult to justify.

“Sub-two percent rates are being advertised by lenders, but we have no way of knowing how many borrowers actually qualify for these deals. Having been tempted through the door, many are likely to be offered much higher rates.

“First time buyers, once seemingly the lifeblood of the property market are now apparently being ignored as lenders continue to cherry pick lower risk borrowers.

“It appears borrowers searching out a new deal are paying a higher price to subsidise existing customers, many of which are paying record low rates.”

Contact 1 Stop Financial Services were one of our advisers can discuss your options and guide you in the right direction.