Data collected by Ipsos Reid’s Canadian Financial Monitor reveals that in the last 48 months, the average Canadian mortgage has seen a significant 36 per cent increase. While the same percentage of households possess mortgages now as they did four years ago, about one third of the populace, the average mortgage balance has risen since 2006.
The last four years also saw a marginal 3 per cent increase in mortgage holders opting for variable rates over fixed. Still, the vast majority of Canadians select fixed rates on their mortgage products; about 70 per cent.
If housing prices continue to fall, and interest rates do begin to rise, this trend could reverse, dependent on two factors:
- how much Canadians are able to save toward their down payments,
- how many Canadian homeowners decide to take out equity in their homes to compensate rising costs
