There has been a huge amount of media activity this week over when The Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, will raise interest rates. Interest rates can only go one way, but the activity is centred around potentially 2.3 million householders who could struggle with paying their mortgage, coupled with the new mortgage rules that lenders must adhere to to avoid reckless borrowing. It would only take a modest rise for a third of these people to have a third of their income taken up by mortgage payments.

A report published suggested that the “Golden Age” – the recent period of extremely cheap borrowing on the lowest interest rates ever – will for many be over. The Resolution Foundation has also predicted that nearly 800,000 – one in ten – mill be most at risk and, in effect, locked in to their mortgages. Whilst the current property boom is very much under way in the south east, there is less demand for cheap empty property insurance as the shortage of houses impacts on the market.

Property owners who look to compare unoccupied property insurance are still enjoying low rates despite the extreme wet weather of the last winter as insurers continue to to adopt a sophisticated approach to underwriting based on the risk assessment tools that are available to them in addition to the Environmental agency mapping. Cheap Vacant property insurance is unlikely to be impacted by any increase in mortgage interest directly but insurers will always be mindful of any knock on effect when property owners lack the ability to effect repairs to maintain and upkeep properties.