Mortgage repayments have hit their highest level as a proportion of income since the 2008 financial crisis, Nationwide reported today.
Payments equalled 39% of first-time buyers' take-home pay in the final quarter of last year, said the building society.
Higher base rates have led to borrowing cost soaring, while house prices, and hence the size of mortgages, have also risen by 19% since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
Soaring food, fuel and energy costs have already put pressure on household finances, with inflation now more than double where it was last year which has forced central banks to increase interest rates.
More problems might also be on the way.
Around 57% of mortgages coming up for renewal this year were fixed at interest rates below 2%, according to the ONS, while the average two-year fixed-rate mortgage is now 5.79% after peaking at 6.65% in October.
Five-year fixes are now 5.63% after peaking at 6.51% in the same month.
Currently, the base rate is 3.5%, up from 0.1% in December 2021, with analysts at financial platform AJ Bell expecting a further rise to 4.5% in the summer, before finally falling.
Andrew Harvey, a senior Nationwide economist, said the society expected the housing market would likely “remain challenging” in the short term.
Global economic activity is unlikely to help too, according to Mazars chief economist George Lagarias, as “inflation remains at the mercy of supply-side pressures while central banks try to suppress demand”.