Mortgage squeeze looms for millions as more families ‘financially strained’ 

More people are feeling a financial strain than at any other time in the last two years, polling has shown, with a rise in mortgage bills set to put household budgets under greater pressure.  New City AM/Freshwater Strategy polling has suggested that half of mortgage holders will come off fixed-rate deals by the end of 2028, leaving them exposed to a huge jump in their mortgage repayments.  Figures showed that nearly three in ten (29 per cent) people believed they were not confident they would be able to afford the rise in bills while more than half (53 per cent) expected a large increase in mortgages. The fresh set of data precedes an expected interest rate hike by the Bank of England to four per cent this Thursday, its first hike since August 2023.  The Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee had gradually brought interest rates down from a peak of 5.25 per cent in a rate-cutting cycle beginning in 2024, although it could once again tighten monetary policy in response to a spik