THE Council of Mortgage Lenders said it was unsurprised by the quarter-point rise in interest rates announced by the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee.

The current range of data in the housing market shows a mixed picture, but the CML continues to expect a slower market as the year progresses.

CML director-general Michael Coogan said: "The Monetary Policy Committee members have recently made a point of emphasising that it is not in the business of 'clobbering consumers'. Equally, we all recognise that it needs to address inflationary pressures as it sees them. So the rate rise is no surprise.

"We continue to think there will be further rate rises to come, and that consumers should organise their finances to be able to cope with them. But we do not expect that the housing market will still be regarded as a significant inflationary pressure looking ahead into 2005. Nor do we expect that there will be a significant worsening in arrears and possessions figures in 2005 with the benign economic backdrop."