Buyers are being forced to borrow record amounts of money to finance their property purchases
Number of people defaulting on their payments this year has doubled to 77,000 each month
Fears are growing of a dramatic increase in the number of houses that are repossessed By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent Published: 11 July 2007

Britain faces a mortgage crisis with payment arrears rising sharply as 18 million homeowners struggle to meet the fifth rise in interest rates in less than a year.

It is being predicted that high earners who have stretched themselves to buy a home will join less prosperous social groups in experiencing problems as they juggle finances to adjust to rises in monthly payments.

Research suggests that twice as many borrowers as last year have missed mortgage payments in the past six months. A website, MoneyExpert.com said that, while 36,000 borrowers a month fell into arrears last year, this year that figure will be 77,000.

Fears that homeowners are vulnerable to rate rises intensified when the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said yesterday that first-time buyers were borrowing a record 3.37 times their income and other buyers just over three times.