More than 10,000 Leamington and Warwick households hit by soaring mortgage costs

More than 10,000 households across Leamington and Warwick have been hit by the soaring cost of mortgage payments.

Recent statistics from the consumer magazine Which? show that in April 2023, over 700,000 UK households missed or defaulted on a rent or mortgage payment.

The figures came just ahead of the 12th consecutive rise in interest rates, putting the rate up to 4.5 per cent.

The increased rate puts added pressure on homeowners as their mortgage rates continue to grow with monthly mortgage repayments up 61% for the average semi-detached home in the UK.

In Warwick and Leamington 10,800 households have been affected with an average increase in mortgage payments of £3,400.

The two towns’ MP Matt Western said: “The Tory mortgage premium that homeowners are having to pay is yet another huge cost to add the ever-growing list.

"Whether it be mortgage or rent payments, food bills or energy bills, the dreadful impact of the failed mini-budget and the cost-of-living crisis is continuing to bite and is hurting local people and families.”

For those looking to get a mortgage, rates for a two-year fixed deal have reached a high not seen since December 2022.

According to Moneyfacts, the average mortgage rate for a two-year fixed deal has risen to 6.01%, this sat at 4.09% in August 2022, a nine year high at the time.

Campaigners have called for the Prime Minister to take action to support homeowners as they warned a huge bill could hit families as more than 2.4m fixed-rate deals are due to expire by the end of 2024.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has ruled out providing financial support to mortgage holders amidst the ongoing crisis, saying it would fuel inflation.

At Treasury Questions, he said: "Those kind of schemes which involve injecting large amounts of cash into the economy right now would be inflationary.

"So, much as we sympathise with the difficulties and will do everything we can to help people seeing their mortgage costs go up, we won’t do anything that would mean we’ve prolonged inflation.