By William Schomberg
LONDON (Reuters) - The Bank of England stuck to its plan to nurse the economy back to full health with record low interest rates on Thursday, despite a strong recovery and fast-rising house prices which could lead to a split among its policymakers soon.
The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee left its benchmark interest rate at 0.5 percent, where it has sat since the worst of the financial crisis more than five years ago.
The MPC made no statement after the decision which had been widely expected. Details of how its nine members voted will be released in just under two weeks' time.
Martin Weale, the MPC member most likely to break ranks and cast a first vote for a rate hike, said last week that borrowing costs should go up sooner rather than later although it was not yet time to start easing the economy off the BoE's stimulus.
That message of growing urgency contrasts with the view of BoE Governor Mark Carney who said last month that Britain's economy was only edging towards a first interest rate hike, even as growth is expected to top 3 percent this year.
The BoE thinks there are still enough people out of work or seeking more work to allow the recovery to continue without pushing up inflation.
Forecasts from the Bank published in May showed that gradual interest rate rises starting in about a year's time would be consistent with its 2 percent inflation target.
Assessing whether the Bank will wait that long is complicated by a reshuffle on the MPC. The two-day meeting which ended on Thursday was the first for Andy Haldane, formerly the Bank's expert on banking sector risks and now its new chief economist.
U.S. academic Kristin Forbes and Nemat Shafik, a top International Monetary Fund official, are due to join the MPC in July and August respectively, potentially reducing the chance of a big push by its members to raise interest rates sooner.
"We know little of the bias, if any, of these new members, but it is quite feasible that the rotation could make the debate a little 'less balanced', at least initially, as the new members find their feet, perhaps delaying rate hike momentum," said Victoria Clarke, an economist at Investec bank.
The BoE has also said it will not raise interest rates as its first line of defence against risks from Britain's housing market which is booming in many areas of the country.
Instead, it will turn initially to further controls on mortgage lending, possibly as soon as this month.
The BoE's Financial Policy Committee meets on June 17 and its decision is due to be announced on June 26.
Data from mortgage lender Halifax on Thursday showed house prices rose by nearly 4 percent in May alone although economists said the number, while reflecting the strength in the market, could be a blip.
The BoE said on Thursday it was keeping unchanged its 375 billion-pound ($628 billion) stockpile of government bonds which it built up over recent years in an attempt to get the economy moving again.
(Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Toby Chopra)