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Despite a trade war and other geopolitical tensions, as well as the ongoing mortgage renewal wave, the majority of Canadian homeowners are still meeting their monthly mortgage payments, according to a new poll.

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About 83 per cent of Canadian homeowners say they have never missed a mortgage payment, according to a survey from brokerage True North Mortgage Inc., released on Tuesday.

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Still, that doesn’t mean households aren’t facing financial strain. More than one-third of respondents say it has been challenging to keep up mortgage payments over the past year.

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“It hasn’t been an easy year for homeowners,” said Dan Eisner, chief executive of True North Mortgage. “There’s been a lot of trade and tariff talk over the last year, which is creating a lot of will-they, won’t-they indecision for home buyers, and then interest rates have moved around quite a bit.”

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Canadian government five-year bond yields have also surged recently amid the war on Iran, which Eisner said is already affecting the five-year fixed mortgage rate.

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“Signs of financial stress are evident,” said Tania Bourassa-Ochoa, deputy chief economist at the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). “Canadian households are still very leveraged, so (they have) high levels of debt.”

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Mortgage debt hit $1.95 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2025, a 2.6 per cent increase from the previous year, according to the latest data from Equifax Canada Inc.

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And while the overall mortgage arrears rate in Canada remains low at 0.22 per cent, it is rising more quickly among borrowers whose mortgages originated during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 and the post‑pandemic period, said Bourassa-Ochoa.

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There is a specific localized impact in higher-cost areas, such as Toronto, according to data from CMHC. Toronto’s mortgage arrears rate has more than quadrupled, to 0.26 per cent, from post-pandemic lows and is expected to continue climbing.

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Higher household debt, a weak labour market and declining home values have contributed to an acceleration in Toronto homeowners struggling to keep up with their mortgage payments. Bourassa-Ochoa said Toronto homeowners in dire financial straits cannot even turn to the sale of their home to dig themselves out of debt, due to declining prices and increasing number of days on the market.

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So how are the majority of Canadians keeping up with their home loans?

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True North said it saw a 67 per cent increase in refinances last year, with possible reasons including debt consolidation and extending the mortgage amortization period to reduce payments.

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Bourassa-Ochoa said CMHC has seen many homeowners increase their amortization period, though this too comes at a cost of higher total interest paid over the life of the loan. “There is this trade-off between short-term affordability and long-term wealth.”