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the economic picture is not getting any better. In part because so many people each month are coming off fixed-term mortgage deals bought in the ZIRP era. The more time they give Labour to govern, the more rope they give them to hang themselves with. Or so the theory probably goes. They're already massively, massively behind in the polls and if recent local elections are anything to go on.

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Good point about all the people about to hit a mortgage renewal crisis.

For our friends in the USA: in the USA it's common to have a long-term fixed-interest mortgage. In the UK they are limited to a few years, then you have to renew. Because interest rates have risen so much in recent years, people will have to pay much higher mortgage payments when their current fixed-term ends, which is coming due fairly soon for many people. On top of that, because people's other costs have gone up more than incomes generally, that reduces their credit rating at renewal, so their payments may rise even higher than interest alone would suggest, at the same time as their ability to pay is lower than it was a few years ago.

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