Through the roof

Home fears as mortgage rates rocket to 15-year high | Lenders stress test for rates soaring as high as 9%

- GRAHAM HISCOTT

MORTGAGE costs have soared to a 15-year high amid warnings of another Bank of England base rate increase in three weeks' time.

The average two-year fixed-rate deal hit 6.66% yesterday, industry experts Moneyfacts revealed - passing the peak reached in the wake of the Tories' disastrous mini-Budget last autumn.

Experts tip the Bank of England to up its base rate from 5% to 5.5% on August 3, the highest level since December 2007, in its bid to tame inflation.

The leap in mortgage rates will be a worry for the 800,000 borrowers whose fixed-rate deals end in the second half of this year, and 1.6 million whose deals time out by the end of next year.