borrowers will be forced to pause and rethink. we might see a lot of people who have started the process early on pull out and think they re going to wait and see. if rates do rise ever more and ever more quickly and there s a rumour that the next bank of england base rate rise might be 1.25% or 1.5% in one fell swoop that is going to make people revisit their finances. the mortgage market is in shock. an unprecedented 935 mortgage products were withdrawn, as lenders don t know how high interest rates will go. major lender nationwide was quoting an interest rate of 5.6% on a £200,000 mortgage a year ago, that same mortgage was around 2%, meaning a new borrower would face an extra £6,000 in annual mortgage costs, completely wiping out the recent cut in stamp duty. people on fixed deals won t be affected till their fixed term expires. for over a decade, interest rates have been at rock bottom levels, which has allowed