A new survey by the Real Estate and Mortgage Institute of Canada shows that over a third of Canadians asked regret their current mortgage situation.
Interest rates have climbed steadily over the last year or so as the Bank of Canada tries to cool rising inflation. The Bank of Canada’s key lending rate is at 5 per cent—up from an historic low of 0.25 percent—and there are indications that rates could rise again in early September.
According to an online survey of 1,000 random Canadians conducted by the Real Estate and Mortgage Institute of Canada, 34.1 per cent of respondents say they regret their current mortgage situation, while 21.8 percent of those asked indicated that interest rate hikes have made their mortgages “unaffordable.”
A combined 68.4 per cent of Canadians say they didn’t know what their mortgage payments would be if the Canadian interest rate reached 5 per cent.
According to the survey, nearly half of Canadians don’t think they will be able to pay off their mortgage by age 60, while 8.2 per cent think they will be 80 or older before their mortgage is paid.