Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), in cooperation with credit reporting agency Equifax, recently determined the average mortgage payment due across cities and found that larger debts and higher interest rates drove average payments for homes higher in the first of this year, as reported by Better Dwelling.
Canada’s two most expensive cities, Toronto and Vancouver, saw an increase in average mortgage payments, increasing at nearly twice the pace of Montréal.
Vancouverites paid an average of $1,794 per month at the end of the first quarter this year, up 6.53% from the previous quarter. Meanwhile, the average payment in Toronto rose 6.4% to $1,662. For reference, Montréal’s average payment grew by. 2.51%, to $1,060 in value.
CMHC also studied the condition of Home equity lines of credit (HELOC), which was described as a way for “homeowners to secure debt with the equity in their home, then pay the loan back in monthly installments.”
While an average HELOC payment is cheaper than a mortgage, it’s important to note that homebuyers must think twice before choosing this kind of home loan. – as the size of the average HELOC payment maybe lower, but the average payment is also rising at more than twice the speed.
In the first quarter of this year, HELOC holders in Toronto said that they were paying $518 on average per month. This was a 12.85% increase from the quarter before.
Vancouver HELOC holders were responsible for an average monthly payments of $594, and finally, Montréal HELOC holders logged an average monthly payment of $582 in Q1, up 5.82% form the previous quarter.
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