A new Ipsos poll conducted on behalf of Manulife Bank reveals that 23% of homeowners who have a mortgage believe they are at risk of being forced to sell their home if interest rates were to increase further. Additionally, 66% do not view home ownership in their local community as being affordable and 18% of homeowners believe they can no longer afford the house they own. These figures suggest that many might have been priced out of the housing market or are at risk of being priced out of the market, including even some of the current homeowners.
Overall affordability is a major issue in Canada – 80% of Canadians (aged 20-69, HHOLD income $40k+) believe there is an affordability crisis in Canada. 47% say they would struggle to handle unexpected expenses and 44% are reconsidering summer vacation plans due to affordability concerns. Indebted Canadians in particular are feeling the crunch, as this group is statistically more likely to report that their debt is causing them stress (56%; +6 pts vs. Fall 2021; +6 pts vs. Spring 2021) and is negatively impacting their mental health (48%; +5 pts vs. Fall 2021; +6 pts vs. Spring 2021), compared to one year ago.
32% of Canadians (aged 20-69, HHOLD income $40k+) admit they don’t understand how inflation works and 31% don’t understand how interest rates work and yet many feel as though pressures from rising inflation and/or interest rates are pushing them close to the edge of a financial cliff. Indeed, 21% expect rising interest rates to have a significant impact on their financial situation. 22% of those who are in debt expect rising interest rates to have a significant impact on their debt situation. And 22% of those who have a mortgage expect rising interest rates to have a significant impact on their mortgage situation.
With housing prices, inflation, and interest rates all on the rise it is important to be prepared. And yet, majorities admit they do not feel prepared for any of this. Only 46% feel prepared for rising interest rates, 42% are prepared for inflation, and 40% feel prepared or housing prices, figures which underscore how further increases in inflation, interest rates, and/or housing prices could be damaging for many Canadians. Being prepared involves planning, yet the survey evidence indicates that many Canadians (aged 20-69, HHOLD income $40k+) are not engaging in financial planning – 73% do not have a written financial plan and 47% do not have a household budget.
About the Study
These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between April 14th and 20th, 2022 on behalf of Manulife Bank. For this survey, a sample of 2,001 Canadians between the ages of 20 and 69, earning $40k+ were interviewed. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ±2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadians between the ages of 20 and 69, earning $40k+ been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.
Source: Ipsos
