By Enzo Mora of The Mortgage Brain 

Another month, another bank interest rate rise.

Borrowers, and those not yet on the ladder, could be forgiven for emitting several heart-felt sighs but there is hope!

As house prices will continue to rise, putting your plans on hold will only mean you could be further behind by the end of the year.

The Halifax's latest report reveals that house prices remain more than £30,000 higher than this time last year. Zoopla has a projected house prices to end the year 5% higher too.

So for seasoned homeowners, your property is earning you money every day and for potential homeowners, you could be better off than you imagine by the of the year if you hop on the ladder now.

As we're in direct contact with high street lenders we know that each time there's a rise, there are few days of regrouping until they come back to market with their latest offering. They do want to lend money, you just need a broker like The Mortgage Brain, who knows the system inside out, to find you a good deal that's right for you and your circumstances.

If you're on a fixed rate mortgage, do you know when it ends? It pays to check now. When it does, you will go on to a much higher variable rate, and the impact is immediate. We let all our customers know well in advance if their fixed rate is coming to an end so that we can do a sweep of the lenders and find a better deal. And if you haven't used a broker before you'll find many more options available to you rather than going straight to a lender.

The latest research from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) reveals around 370,000 homeowners could save an average of £1,240 a year for two years by switching to a 2-year fixed mortgage. That's money in your pocket that will go some way to heading off the rise in the cost of living. It's worth noting that the current average mortgage rate for a two-year fix is just over 3% compared to just under 6% ten years ago.

Of course, the market is not immune from higher borrowing costs but according to Zoopla a lack of any major over-valuation of UK housing, thanks to mortgage regulation, means the market is in much better shape to weather the economic challenges ahead than in previous economic cycles.

To find out more about The Mortgage Brain, visit www.themortgagebrain.net or call 0333 340 8888.