Most say costs have risen in the past year and for some it's slammed the brakes on saving
Working hard only to see an increasing share of your income taken up by keeping a roof over your head is not what’s expected of the Canadian Dream.
While a home is a necessity, the long-held rule that housing costs should only take up 30% of your income is becoming unachievable for millions of Canadians who have seen the costs spiral since inflation and interest rates escalated sharply from 2022 onwards.
Newly released findings from the National Payroll Institute’s annual Survey of Working Canadians show that 54% of poll participants allocate a third or more of their household income to cover their total monthly housing costs and six in ten have seen these costs rise over the past year. For 19%, housing is taking more than half of their monthly household income.
Food is the area where most people said they are paying more year-over-year (86%) followed by transportation (73%), utilities (61%), travel (60%), and ‘other’ (60%), but when it comes to concern about financial and economic issues, housing costs (62%) beat interest rates (60%), retirement (52%), investments (48%), and debt (38%). Inflation remains the largest concern overall (78%).
However, 47% of respondents said they at least somewhat agree that their housing costs are affordable, including 20% who strongly agree; 16% are neutral on this while 37% disagree to some extent including 11% who strongly disagree.
That said, 40% are considering or taking steps to move to a lower-cost municipality.
Impact on savings
The cost of housing and other expenses are weakening many employed Canadians’ ability to save.
The amounts saved over the past year by poll participants include:
- $5-10K (16%)
- $10-15K (9%)
- $15-20K (5%)
- $20-25K (4%)
- 25K+ (6%)
However, for 10% of those taking part in the survey, they have not been able to save anything in the past year, while more than half have saved less than $5,000.
