If you are worried about mortgage payments going up, you aren’t alone.
A new poll by Manulife Bank show one in four might have to sell if interest rates keep increasing.
The Bank of Canada pushed its key interest rate to 1.5 per cent on June 1.
It’s in an effort to bring down inflation.
“The incidence of indebted Canadians is up significantly over the past year, with the increase coinciding with a sharp rise in interest rates and inflation,” Lysa Fitzgerald, vice-president of sales at Manulife Bank, said.
Almost half of the people surveyed (over 2,000 Canadians) say they would struggle to handle unexpected expenses or are reconsidering summer vacation plans.
“We’re seeing many Canadians feeling the impact directly on their pocketbooks. For example, a couple who signed a variable-rate mortgage in January with a rate of 1.65 per cent at $2,600 a month (will) have seen their monthly payments go up by $250 in just four months due to rising rates.”
Manulife Bank has been conducting debt surveys for more than a decade. The latest, conducted online by Ipsos between April 14 and 20, surveyed Canadians across the country between the ages of 20 and 69 with household incomes of more than $40,000.
