An extra 356,000 homeowners could be struggling to pay their mortgages by the end of June 2024, in addition to around 200,000 who are already behind on payments, according to the City regulator.
The figure is down on a previous estimate made last September that an additional 570,000 borrowers could become financially stretched by the end of June 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said. It has fallen because the regulator based it on a projected peak interest rate of around 5.5%, which has now been revised to 4.5%.
The FCA defines mortgage borrowers as being financially stretched if more than 30% of their gross household income was going towards mortgage payments and they were not currently in a payment shortfall. Among this group, those rolling off a fixed-rate deal could expect to pay an additional £340 a month on average, according to the regulator.
