Four out of 10 homeowners caught short without enough money to meet their expenses

About four in 10 Canadian homeowners says they were “caught short” in the past year without enough money to meet their expenses, according to a survey out Tuesday.

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The survey found the average mortgage debt was $181,000 — up from $175,000, reported in the fall — and Lunny worries about what will happen to Canadians if mortgage rates begin to raise. Five-year fixed rate closed mortgages are now below 2.5 per cent, near an all-time low.

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The survey found four per cent of respondents didn’t have enough money in their bank account to cover expenses almost every month. Another 10 per cent were caught short a few times a year and 23 per cent said it happened one or twice in the last year. The remaining 63 per cent said they never fell into that squeeze, almost the exact percentage that said so during the fall.

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Scott Hannah, chief executive of the Vancouver-based Credit Counselling Society, said the survey results surprised him because the debt picture is a lot uglier. He thinks at least half of Canadians get into trouble every month and it’s a lot worse for people in the 20- to 45-year-old segment of society.

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“We just see how close people live up to ends of their paycheque and beyond,” Hannah said. “What happens is they extend themselves out further with the hopes they’ll get ahead of this at one point in time. We see so many people who get help from families because they can’t just stay ahead. Some of them have to go to part-time jobs or businesses to make ends meet.”

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