Floating-rate mortgages last year reduced many borrowers' payment burden as the Bank of England dropped its base rate to 0.5% and lenders adjusted their standard variable rates downward in response.

去年英格兰银行将基准利率下调到0.5%，贷方也随之降低了可变利率，于是浮动利率按揭使得很多借方的还款压力得到了舒缓。

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In Ireland and Spain home prices are the most overvalued in the zone; worse, the bulk of mortgages are at variable rates. Elsewhere, most mortgage rates are fixed.

首先爱尔兰和西班牙的房价是整个欧元区高估最严重的；其次，雪上加霜的是，大部分按揭贷款都以可变利率维系，而其他地区，按揭利率大多都是固定不变的。

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But there are two worrying exceptions. In Ireland and Spain home prices are the most overvalued in the zone; worse, the bulk of mortgages are at variable rates.

但这里有两个例外令人不无担忧：爱尔兰和西班牙是本区内房价被高估程度最高的地区；更糟的是，其抵押贷款按浮动利率计算。

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Nationwide's chief economist Martin Gahbauer said lower interest rates had given existing homeowners with tracker or standard variable mortgages a welcome breathing space.

BBC: House prices 'continue to rise'

And Europe's housing markets are caught in an unenviable trap because so many households have variable-rate mortgages.

ECONOMIST: Finance

Most Britons, for instance, still have variable-rate mortgages, although the proportion with fixed-rate home loans is rising (thanks, in part, to lower inflation).

ECONOMIST: The single currency