Scarborough man 'worried' about mortgage increases in the future

Interest rates are likely to rise today

Author: Karen LiuPublished 22nd Jun 2023

A man from Scarborough says he is worried about mortgage increases in the future.

Interest rates are likely to rise today as official figures show inflation has not changed and remains at 8.7 percent.

Jack Ashton bought a house in Scarborough nearly a year and a half ago after moving from Malton.

He said: "We're in a shared ownership so we pay for the mortgage about ÂŁ1,600 and then a couple of hundred more for the rent part. I've heard anything up to an extra ÂŁ2,000 a year.

"It's quite terrifying really because it's not really money that we've got. When we do all of our sort of affordability calculations, which is based on me not going to work and the wife going to work and me looking after our son, if it went up we'd be absolutely stuffed. Hopefully things will change before our fixed rate ends but it's a real concern.

"We have to cut back on top of the cost of living crisis. We don't run a car, we've had to rely on family to help us out, we've had holidays locally rather than going aboard. It's been really tough. We haven't done those things that we would have loved to have done like spending money locally as much as we might have done, not been going out to eat and not enjoying all the things that we should be doing in Scarborough with a young family.

"It's a really tricky one because for years and years that absolutely the right thing to do is get a mortgage and buy a house. I think the really worrying thing is that people like me on a mortgage are suffering but also the people on privately rented accommodation, they're effectively paying a lot for another person's mortgage. A lot of those landlords are on 100 percent fixed rates mortgages and they're suffering as well."

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.