Sask. homeowners have highest unpaid mortgage rate in Canada, report shows

When it comes to making mortgage payments on time, Saskatchewan homeowners are the worst in the country, according to a report from the Canadian Bankers Association.

The report shows that as of June 30, the province had 1,118 mortgages in arrears for three or more months out of 130,106 total mortgages.

That represented 0.86 per cent, the highest in the country. The national average for unpaid mortgages at that point was 0.23 per cent.

University of Regina economics professor Jason Childs says one cause of the mortgage delinquency is “ultra-low” interest rates intended to jumpstart the economy after the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009.

“That made borrowing really, really attractive. So it made people take on a lot of consumer debt and a lot of household debt that might not have otherwise,” he said while speaking on the Greg Morgan Morning Show.

Demographics are another factor in the matter.

“Saskatchewan is relatively young, and comparison to British Columbia I think is kind of silly, because B.C. has a much older population. The older you are, the less likely you are to be taking on mortgage debt,” Childs said.

B.C.’s unpaid percentage was at 0.14 per cent, the second-lowest in the country. Alberta sat at 0.5 per cent (second-highest after Saskatchewan) and Manitoba was at 0.35 per cent, fourth-lowest in the country.

Childs also contends that many people here are taking on too much debt, and not leaving enough wiggle room for rising costs.

“If you are at your maximum carrying capacity for mortgage debt, but your wage stops rising and all of these other things go up, you can get yourself into trouble really fast,” he said.

He also blamed a drop in commodity prices in 2014 for lower incomes.