Finance

Low income households and tracker mortgage holders worst hit by rising ECB interest rates

New CSO data shows 13 per cent of tracker mortgage holders are spending more than a fifth of their income on repayments

The European Central Bank (ECB) has raised interest rates 10 times in the last 17 months – from zero in July 2022 to 4.5 per cent in September – in a bid to wrangle spiralling Eurozone inflation. Picture: Shutterstock

Lower income households and those on tracker mortgages were “most significantly impacted” by interest rate changes over the latter half of 2022 and the first half of this year, new research from the Central Statistics Office has found, as homeowners wait with baited breath to hear if rates will rise once more later this week.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has raised interest rates 10 times in the last 17 months – from zero in ...