ECB hikes could drive Irish mortgage rates to 5% by next summer                   

From this year, a household on a tracker mortgage of €300k could see its repayments rise by almost €450 a month

Irish households coming off fixed rates in the next year will face significant increases in the cost of their mortgage loans

The European Central Bank will likely hike interest rates more than expected, which means that Irish mortgage rates could jump to 5% by next summer, experts have said.

It comes as the US Federal Reserve increased rates by a hefty three quarters of a point on Wednesday night, while the Bank of England on Thursday sanctioned a half-point increase to bring British key interest rates already to 2.25%.