Yesterday we took a very generalized view of the Canadian mortgage market in 2013 and looked at things such as mortgage interest rates and how Canadians were adjusting to the rules imposed in the middle of last year. Today we’d like to break it down for you even further and give you real stats from the year. These stats are brought to you by CAAMP, and were released during one of their industry meetings in November.
- There are 9.52 million homeowners in Canada. Together they hold $1.19 trillion in mortgage debt. That can be broken down even further to show that 1.65 million have a mortgage and HELOC, 0.65 million have a HELOC only, and 3.29 million are debt-free.
- The average rate for mortgage renewals in 2013 was 3.20 per cent, while the average rate on new mortgages was 3.23 per cent. The average for all existing mortgages is 3.50 per cent, which is down from 3.52 per cent.
- More people turned to mortgage brokers this year! While only 31 per cent used a broker in 2012, that went up to 40 per cent in 2013. The market was pretty evenly split too, with 57 per cent of new homebuyers going through a broker, and 43 per cent of veteran buyers opting for one of these professionals.
- Canadians saved a bundle on their mortgages this year. In fact, there were $2,623,000,000 worth of mortgage discounts this year, saving Canadians billions of dollars!
- Canadians are also paying off their mortgage faster this year. The average contracted amortization is for 23.3 years, but the average amount of time for the expected amortization is only 18.2 years. That means we’re making billions of dollars in extra payments!
- Perhaps due to the mortgage rules of 2012, we’re also taking out less of our equity. While 70 per cent of us accessed it in 2012, that went down to 66 per cent in 2o13. 11 per cent of homeowners accessed an average of about $57,000 each.
- That money was used mostly for debt repayment ($16.6 billion,) followed by investing ($15.1 billion,) renovations ($12.3 billion,) purchases ($9.7 billion,) and miscellaneous expenses ($5.3 billion.)
Did we miss anything? Let us know about any stats and figures you may have heard about this year, and that you want to share with us.
