A new survey commissioned by the Citizens' Advice Bureau is making headlines this morning. The facts are these:

- 770,000 households (4% of all mortgages) have missed one or more mortgage repayments in the last 12 months.
- FTBs are the worst offenders, and in the under-24 bracket the figure represents 13% of mortgage holders.
- the Bureau has dealt with 51,000 calls regarding difficulties making mortgage repayments in the last year, and officers are comparing the scale of the problem with the recession of the 1990s.
- Repossessions (8,140 in the last six months) are at their highest level in five years.

On their own, these figures are worrying. But they become acutely worrying when read against yesterday's inflation figures (2.5%, August) - the fourth consecutive month above the Government's 2% target. It's hard to believe interest rates won't reach 5% before the year's out. How much shit, and how big the fan... those are the bigger questions.