Mortgage costs ‘halved’ for Mum who feared losing family home

For Ms Lowry-Phillips, the scheme has taken away her anxiety about mortgage payments going up and given her “breathing space” to manage her finances.

But she still wants to see a cut in interest rates which she believes are “unmanageable for a lot of people”.

Her call is echoed by Cardiff estate agent David Ricketts who said a cut would give “a little bit of confidence” to the housing market “which is very much needed”.

Mr Ricketts said the only question now is when the Bank of England will start cutting interest rates, as he added: “They’re not going to go higher, they will only do down.”

The Bank increased rates to 5.25% to control the rapidly rising prices of recent years, but headline inflation has now hit its 2% target, though it remains uncomfortably high in the service sector of the economy.