Mather-Holgate has dealt with a young family who bought their first home in Oxford three years ago. When their fixed rate deal expired, their mortgage rate jumped from 1.6pc to 6.5pc. This meant monthly payments rose by 120pc to £1,400.
“They’re looking at selling their home and moving out of the area to somewhere cheaper,” he says.
John Corben, of Corbens estate agents in Swanage, says second home owners are also selling up.
“People are putting their properties up for sale because they perceive that we are going into a rough time, and so they had better do it sooner rather than later,” he says.
Landlords are struggling too, says Mulheirn. Buy-to-let mortgages are excluded from the mortgage charter, under which struggling borrowers are entitled to support from banks, and the majority of landlords are on interest-only deals, which will see much bigger proportionate increases in costs.
This wave of downsizing is showing up in market data. Despite falling house prices, the number of new listings coming on to the market hit the highest level since March 2021 in June, according to property website Zoopla. The number of homes on the market hit the highest since November 2020 last month.
A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said supporting aspiring homeowners is a government priority.
They said: “The Help to Buy equity loan is interest free for the first five years and, afterwards, a monthly interest fee of 1.75pc of the loan is payable, which is a significantly lower rate than current mortgage products.”
