Around one-in-five mortgages in Alberta remains in deferral, the highest rate of any province in the country, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
CMHC president and CEO Evan Siddall said in a tweet on Tuesday that as of July, 21 per cent of mortgages in Alberta were deferred.
The next highest deferral rates were in Saskatchewan and Newfoundland, tied at 14.8 per cent.
“Deferrals in oil-producing regions are evidently elevated,” he wrote.
Quebec had the lowest rate at 5.6 per cent.
Further data on <a href=”https://twitter.com/CMHC_ca?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@CMHC_ca</a> deferral rates, with most July data, by province: AB – 21.0%, SK – 14.8%, NL – 14.8%, BC – 11.1%, ON – 10.1%, 3 territories – 9.9%, NS – 9.9%, MB – 9.6%, NB – 9.3%, PEI – 8.4%, QC – 5.6%. Deferrals in oil producing regions are evidently elevated.
Siddall said around 11 per cent of all homeowner transactional insured mortgages are in deferral across the country, and that factors like unemployment rates and government supports will play a role in deferrals and house prices going forward.
Low oil prices had already hit Alberta’s economy hard before the coronavirus pandemic.
The Conference Board of Canada forecasts Alberta will see its economy shrink by a historic seven per cent this year.
Justin Havre with RE/MAX says the Alberta deferral numbers don’t come as much of a surprise.
“I think Albertans have gone through some tough times,” said Havre.
“We typically don’t have the opportunity to defer mortgage payments when there is a collapse in energy payments and when the opportunity was available to get mortgages deferred here in Alberta, I think a lot of people took the opportunity to preserve their cash because nobody really knew with this pandemic how long it would go on and what was going to come of it.”
Havre said he would encourage anyone having trouble making payments to be proactive, and speak with their bank and insurer.
“Don’t wait — take action now to find a solution, and if the solution has to be that you put your house up on the market, then you may want to start acting on that now while we have the activity in the marketplace, because our market typically does slow down when snow hits the ground.”
In May, Siddall had warned a House of Commons committee that the country could see a “deferral cliff” when some unemployed people are required to begin paying their mortgages again this fall.
VANCOUVER – Canadian pop icon Nelly Furtado has been named one of three headliners for the opening ceremony of the upcoming Invictus Games.
Furtado, from Victoria, will share the stage with alt-pop star Roxane Bruneau of Delson, Que., and American singer-songwriter Noah Kahan.
They’ll be part of the show that opens the multi-sport event in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C., in February.
The Invictus Games sees wounded, injured, and sick military service members and Veterans compete in 11 disciplines.
The Vancouver Whistler 2025 Games will be the first of seven editions to feature winter adaptive sports, including alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, skeleton and wheelchair curling.
British Columbia’s Lower Mainland will host the Invictus Games from Feb. 8-16.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
PORT ALBERNI, B.C. – A tribal council representing 14 First Nations along the west coast of Vancouver Island is declaring a state of emergency over the opioid crisis, which is killing their members and leaving others with mental health struggles.
Judith Sayers, president of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, says not enough is being done and the nations need help from governments and health authorities to devise their own solutions for fight what she calls a “war on trauma” in dealing with the colonial past.
Figures from the First Nations Health Authority show Indigenous people died from drug poisonings at more than six times the rate of other B.C. residents last year.
Sayers says First Nations need funding to support overwhelmed workers in their communities and to build detox and rehabilitation centres.
Chief Councillor Ken Watts of the Tseshaht First Nation says not enough is being done, and British Columbians should ask candidates running in this October’s provincial election, what they plan to do to help.
Sayers says a meeting was held with government and health officials to discuss the concerns and another meeting is being planned with the federal government.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
