Jake the Eastern Passage Rock Snake | SaltWireLONDON - A steep surge in interest rates has made it harder to buy a home, despite wages growing much faster than house prices over the past year, figures from major mortgage lender Halifax showed on Tuesday.
At the start of 2020 - before increased buyer demand pushed up house prices during the COVID-19 pandemic - a similar mortgage cost 23% of an average salary. "Typical monthly mortgage payments are up by around a fifth, which is a big jump at any time, but particularly during a wider cost of living squeeze," Kim Kinnaird, mortgages director at Halifax, said.Britain's housing market has slowed in recent months with both Halifax and rival Nationwide reporting an annual decline in house prices, while official figures showed annual wage growth excluding bonuses hit 7.8% in the three months to June, the highest in records going back to 2001.