Cash crunch continues as more British Columbians worry about housing payments: poll

To likely no one’s surprise, a new poll has found an increasing number of British Columbians are stressed about covering their rent or mortgage payments.

While interest rates aren’t rising like they have been over the last year, the cost-of-living crisis continues to put pressure on people’s finances.

According to Research Co., over a third of British Columbians surveyed are feeling the pinch. Additionally, 52 per cent of British Columbians polled reported feeling “dissatisfied with their current financial situation,” — a shift from earlier this year.

Research Co. President Mario Canseco says this is the first time that a majority of B.C. residents and Canadians have reported “that their own finances are not as good as they could be.”

“Even going back to surveys conducted right after the global financial crisis in 2008, we had a significantly low proportion of Canadians and British Columbians who felt that the Canadian economy was doing well, but we still had a majority who felt that they could make ends meet, that even if the whole world was falling apart on the financial side, our households wouldn’t be affected. Now, we have a majority of B.C. residents and Canadians who are starting to worry significantly more about whether they can pay their mortgage and about the ultimate effect of everything that is happening around them on their pocketbooks,” explained Canseco.

“The fact that we continue to have these inflationary pressures and also expecting higher prices in the future is making us be more concerned about whether we’ll be able to meet our housing commitments.”

Canseco says concerns related to inflation and economic management have been “jumping over the last couple of months.”

“For a province like B.C., where housing has been the number one issue for a few years, it’s definitely not a surprise. We have a significant proportion of residents who are worried about making sure that they can pay their mortgage or rent, which is significantly higher than what we see in some other parts of the country,” he told 1130 NewsRadio.

Overall, Research Co. found that only 46 per cent of Canadians surveyed reported their own personal finances as “very good” or “good” right now.

In Alberta, 61 per cent of people were dissatisfied, while 51 per cent each of Ontarians, Quebecers, and Atlantic Canadians said the same.

On the flip side, respondents in Saskatchewan and Manitoba reported having the least economic stress, at almost 10 per cent less than the national average.