Homeowner stress bursts into view in Canada banks' mortgage data

Mortgage data from Canada’s two biggest banks are painting a picture of homeowners straining under high borrowing costs.

Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest lender, disclosed that 43 per cent of its Canadian residential mortgages had an amortization period of longer than 25 years, as of July. That’s up from 40 per cent a year earlier, and just 26 per cent in January 2022. 

Canadian banks have allowed customers to stretch payments for longer periods to help them bring down their monthly payments after a rapid rise in rates. Unlike in the U.S., it’s difficult for homeowners to lock in their rates for long periods. Most either have mortgages where the rates are fixed for one to five years, or variable-rate mortgages that reset with every move in the central bank rate.