Squeezed mortgaged households face more pain

Irish banks set to increase mortgage costs even as Thursday's rate hike may be one of the last from the ECB

The potential for more rate hikes — which could come at the next ECB meeting in September — will not be welcome news for mortgage-holders as their repayments have already shot up by thousands of euro. 

This week marked one year of the most aggressive period of monetary tightening policy in the history of the European Central Bank (ECB) which has seen interest rates soar while mortgage repayments increase, squeezing hard-pressed households even more.

The nine straight rate increases since July last year — the most recent of which was announced on Thursday — means eurozone official interest rates now stand close to 20 year highs.