SUFFOLK'S homeowners are today facing further hikes in their mortgages.Mortgage repayments are set to go up after the Bank of England today increased interest rates for the third time in six months.

SUFFOLK'S homeowners are today facing further hikes in their mortgages.

Mortgage repayments are set to go up after the Bank of England today increased interest rates for the third time in six months.

The Monetary Policy Committee decided to put up rates by 0.25 per to 4.25pc.

This will cost homeowners with an average £65,000 mortgage just under £10 month.

If lenders pass on the full hike in rates, monthly repayments on a £65,000 loan will increase to £428.78 from £418.79, based on a new rate of 6.25pc.

But first-time buyers are more likely to have a loan of around £100,000 – and will therefore see their repayments rise by £15 a month to £659.66.

But a Suffolk estate agent believes the hike will not have an undue effect on the property market.

Amanda Vanstone, sales manager for Bidwells in Brightwell Court, Martlesham Heath, said: "We have been expecting interest rates to rise – and I think it is in response to people borrowing money on their properties.

"But I don't think it will particularly affect the property market. We have already had two rises but sales have continued to be fluid and sales have been good.

"We have to remember that sales are historically low and mortgages are affordable.

"That, together with the high employment rate in Suffolk, means that the market will stay healthy.

"If anything, first time buyers will feel a bit of a pinch."

Homeowners have now seen cumulative increases of nearly £30 to a £65,000 loan since November.

And if the base rate ends the year at 4.75%, as many economists are predicting, they will have seen their repayments rise by a total of £50 since interest rates first began to increase.

N See tomorrow's Evening Star for an in depth look at the growing debt crisis.