Are people aiming too high in the standard of living they expect to enjoy and the type of home they buy? A new report from Bradford & Bingley suggests that many are working harder and longer, and in some cases taking on second jobs, to maintain their lifestyle while coping with soaring house prices and interest rates.

It is clear evidence that the rise in interest rates is not something abstract. It has real consequences on people's lives. And there is little sign of it coming to an end. To counter it, what can mortgage-holders committed to the hilt do? They can either sell up and trade down to something cheaper (if available). Or they can stay where they are and work ever harder.

The latter option, which is apparently attracting a growing number of people, might be admirable but if interest rates continue to rise in many cases it will not be sustainable in the long term. That quality of life they are striving to maintain could be seriously undermined if work comes to totally dominate their waking hours.

The last thing the Bank of England and the lenders want, surely, is for there to be a rapid escalation in the number of homes being repossessed. Yet we seem to be heading in that direction. The lesson for would-be homebuyers has to be that getting into property is a risky business. For the time being it is perhaps best to play safe and try not to overstretch themselves either in the type of home they buy or the lifestyle they adopt to go with it.