Mortgage costs risk surging to a more than 30-year high as borrowers face eye-watering rate hikes, with one couple now locked into paying £250 more per month.
Major mortgage lenders Santander and HSBC, along with the Nationwide and Yorkshire building societies, joined a rush of lenders to pull home loans or up their rates today.
It has left buyers chasing a dwindling number of home loans.
Huw Pill, the Bank of England's chief economist, said: “We don’t know what the future holds. Not for the next few weeks, not for the next few days – or even perhaps not for the next few hours.”
With his fixed-rate mortgage deal ending this month, Birmingham resident Mark Pepperell knew he would have to pay more but delayed a decision so he could shop around for the best deal.
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He was expecting to pay £150 more a month but every time he spoke to his mortgage adviser he found fewer deals were available.
He has now locked in a new deal for two years at £250 more per month than he and partner Deanna were previously paying.
Mark works for a sports brand and Deanna is in retail.
“It’s a hard pill to swallow. We’re comfortable, putting money back into restaurants or retail," he said.
“But those things are going to have to stop. We will now have to take serious decisions on where our money goes.”
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Mark added that in two years, if rates stand at 6% or 7%, they may even have to consider selling up and renting instead.
Meanwhile, sales assistant Robin Price, 38, has spent years saving for a mortgage deposit and, thanks to that pot and an inheritance, is now ready to buy.
But with the threat of a sharp rise in interest rates looming, he said he now feels completely lost.
He fears the monthly mortgage repayments will become unaffordable.
Robin, on the minimum wage, said: “I just want a home. I can’t find anywhere that I can afford a mortgage on in London or Essex because I don’t earn enough.”
