Mortgage Anxiety and the Changing Housing Market

A new survey of 2,000 Canadians shows that many homeowners are feeling nervous about renewing their mortgages. About one in five people with a mortgage renewal coming soon said they are worried about how much their new monthly payments will be. This is because many people got their mortgages when interest rates were very low, and now those rates are going up, which means they might have to pay a lot more each month.

In fact, 1.2 million mortgages are expected to be renewed this year. Around 85 per cent of them were taken out when the Bank of Canada’s main interest rate was at one per cent or even lower during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that interest rates are higher, many of these homeowners may be surprised by how much more they’ll need to pay when their mortgage renews.

The survey also showed that most people — 68 per cent — prefer fixed-rate mortgages because the payments stay the same and are easier to plan for. But people with variable-rate mortgages, where the payments can change, were almost twice as likely to make extra payments to lower their debt. This shows they are trying to reduce their mortgage faster when they can.

More than 70 per cent of homeowners said they have recently fixed up their home or plan to do so soon. Some people are also thinking about renting out part of their home to help pay for housing costs. At the same time, more Canadians are worried about mortgage fraud. About 34 per cent are very concerned, which is more than last year. Experts say the government should make it easier and safer to check people’s income to help stop this kind of fraud.