The Bank of England's decision to keep interest rates on hold this month was unanimous, minutes of its September meeting released this morning show.

All nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to keep rates at 4.5%, a marked change in attitude from August’s meeting when the committee voted five to four to cut rates but a quarter point.

The minimal discussion over alternative movements to the rates revealed in the minuets will likely lead to economists deciding rates won’t move again anytime soon. Indeed, Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec is already reported as saying, "We continue to see the MPC on hold this year but feel that the downside risks on activity will materialise, leading to rates coming down early next year."

The committee had little to say on the housing market. Indicators had suggested some modest improvement, the committee noted, with a stabilisation of prices and a further small increase in the number of loan approvals for house purchase. The annual growth rates of secured and unsecured lending had remained quite high although both had been slowing.

Global price of oil after hurricane Katrina was a concern to the committee. "While there remained uncertainty about the likely effects of Hurricane Katrina on US GDP growth, past experience suggested that those effects might be relatively small and short-lived," the minutes report. "However, higher oil prices continued to pose a downside risk to world demand and an upside risk to world export prices."