I don't understand all the whining about mortgage rates in the UK. 5.75% is a bargain. Mortgage rates are higher in the USA, and even when they were at historic lows about a year or so ago, they were just under 6%. I recently bought a new home, and locked into a 6.1 rate for a fixed 30-year mortgage. My first mortgage for my former home was over 7%, which I refinanced several years later. I can refinance this mortgage if the interest rates go down again, and that won't happen anytime soon.

My mortgage payment includes my property tax as well. Thankfully, I can deduct the interest paid on my mortgage and the property tax off my income tax every year.
I'd love a 5.75 mortgage!

Marlene Koenig, Alexandria, VA/USA

im no racist and i welcome anyone who want to come to the uk to contribute to our economy but its the influx of cheap labour thats send house prices and this craze for "investment" propertys through the roof in recent years

when is someone going to look at the long term affect this is having on hardworking people like myself who are finding it hard enough trying to get a foot on the property ladder with prices ricing by the minute

where i work we have a high number of foreign labour and they work hard but will tell you themselves that they can affford to wor for minmum wage because they cram so many into a house its only costing them £40 a week each to rent

so when a landlords taking £4-600 a week for a 3 bedrooom semi its no wonder the valuations keep rising and the best bit is they all got their p60s now gone home for 3-4 weeks holiday claiming their tax back and wil be back to start again at the end of july to start all over again

unbelivable

vince wells , london , england

The calculation is more complicated than that, you have
deduct payment as well.

Additionally, we have the fixed rate mortgage, the deferred
mortgage, the lump sum mortgage, the deferred interest
mortgage and prabably many more I don't know of.........................................

How can you make average statement when most people
are finding ways around it ? Interest rises have had litttle
effect so far, so we can assume there are more to come.

M walker, bromsgrove, worcs

The change from 4.5% in August to 5.75% today is an increase in base interest rates of just over 27.5% in less than a year. That's ten times the rate of this Government's 'preferred' calculation of inflation, which is (laughably) quoted as less than 3%.

As a saver, I am a happy bunny - but please don't let the inevitable anonymous 'treasury spokesman' try to tell us this is anything less than a kick in the teeth for the English middle classes. They're not that stupid.

eddie foster, mirthios, crete, greece

Rates have gone up to 5.75 because in August 2005 the MPC foolishy lowered interest rates by 0.25% (which stimulus the economy did not need) and further the MPC then hestitated to raise interest rates again until August 2006. We are now paying for the MPC's incompetence by higher interest rates, which will have to go up to at least 6% to bring inflation down and keep it down below 2%.

John Fernandez, London, UK

Higher interest rates ... bring it on! I earn 30K a year, have 30k in the bank and still cant afford a house I'm prepared to live in. The sooner interest rates knock the housing market flat the better.

stewart, Tavistock, Devon

To Kenny G - you base your figures on an interest only basis.

A repayment mortgage repays capital each month, so the interest rate increase has less of an effect because of this. You pay less interest because your capital reduces over the term of the mortgage, yet your repayments remain level.

Dean, Cardiff,

Hi Marlene,

You just made yourself sound very lucky... the base rates are 5.75%. This is not the mortgage rate. In fact 7% or more is closer to the rate someone would pay in the UK.

On that basis you should feel very lucky - and maybe now have some sympathy for those in the UK - especially as houses tend to cost more "across the pond"... maybe even someone as content as you might have reason to care about these increases!

Fergus David, Washington, DC / USA

I don't understand all the whining about mortgage rates in the UK. 5.75% is a bargain. Mortgage rates are higher in the USA, and even when they were at historic lows about a year or so ago, they were just under 6%. I recently bought a new home, and locked into a 6.1 rate for a fixed 30-year mortgage. My first mortgage for my former home was over 7%, which I refinanced several years later. I can refinance this mortgage if the interest rates go down again, and that won't happen anytime soon.

My mortgage payment includes my property tax as well. Thankfully, I can deduct the interest paid on my mortgage and the property tax off my income tax every year.
I'd love a 5.75 mortgage!

Marlene Koenig, Alexandria, VA/USA

It should be against the law to own more than one home.

Jude, Southsea, hampshire

Can anyone advise where I can get a £100k variable rate mortgage where the increase is only £16 a month? My interest-only mortgage of £105K has an increase of £22 for each 0.25% rise in Bank rate (which seems fairly sound mathmatically).

Keith Fowler, London,

Kenny G.

Its not quite basic maths. Since throughout the year you're making repayments to the capital, the amount you owe reduces each month and so does the interest payable. So its not quite as simple as 0.0025 x 100,000. Take a look at the Excel financial formulae...

Rich.

Richard, Houston, USA

Restore tax relief to young couples struggling against rising interest rates and council tax, and withdraw tax relief for those people rich enough to buy investment property.

Bernard Parke, Guildford,

Good, let us hope that house prices now crash totally and we might be able to afford them then. I guess if you're a rich Russian czar , a Polish worker etc etc then interest rates don't matter, but dont forget us poor UK citizens who would like to own a house in our own Country . PLEASE Mr Brown can we have one as well !.

John, London, UK

If variable-rate mortgages rise by 0.25%, then someone with a £100,000 variable-rate mortgage is going to pay £250 per year more in interest, which is £20.83 per month extra.

That's basic maths.

As such, could you please explain the statement from the above article that: "The new rate rise will mean an extra £16 a month for homebuyers with a typical variable-rate £100,000 mortgage."?

Kenny G, London,

So far as the housing market is concerned,the price increases will only
significantly moderate when the cost of borrowing money is around the same level of house price inflation.
So long as borrowing is "profitable" people will borrow.
Housing is no longer simply a home,it has become,sadly,an investment!

Nic, Royan, France