Following the announcement that the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee (MPC) cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 5.5 per cent, a number of organisations have responded.
The National Association of Estate Agents "heartily welcomed" the cut.
Chief executive Peter Bolton King commented: "There has been considerable doom and gloom lately as we have had to endure the fallout from some significant national and international events."
He stated that the cut will go some way towards improving consumer confidence.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders stated that a reduction in interest rates is "exactly" what the market needs, but called for more aggressive intervention on the part of authorities to open wholesale funding markets.
Director general Michael Coogan noted a "real need" to minimise the shortfall between supply and demand in the mortgage market.
The Bank’s decision to reduce the interest rate reflects the first drop since August 2005.