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Before this summer, there was a wide range of other mortgages for the beleaguered borrower to consider switching to. The consumer, for once, had the upper hand as banks fell over themselves to offer loans to customers to the extent that some, like the Northern Rock, just fell over. The rest, now panicked by the sight of queues of people waiting to withdraw their savings, are cutting back their lending and the juicy mortgage deals have all but disappeared.

However, many people including wealthy investors, for whom a couple of interest-rate changes make little difference are looking at the combination of high property prices and high mortgage rates and drawing an obvious conclusion: get a quick sale and rent back property for a while, and then buy again when mortgages and house prices are cheaper.