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Canadians are putting off major personal milestones — including purchasing a home — because of their debt, a new survey suggests.
Debt has caused 18 percent of Canadians to put off buying a home, according to an Angus Reid Institute survey undertaken in partnership with The Globe and Mail newspaper.
Angus Reid Institute, a not-for-profit pollster, conducted the survey of 1,500 Canadian adults online from September 27th–30th.
Homebuying was not the only activity Canadian debt curtailed. In fact, 32 percent of respondents say they aren’t saving for retirement because of what they owe, while 8 percent haven’t tied the knot and 7 percent are delaying having children.
The number of Millennials living at home has received media attention in recent years as more than a third of Canadians aged 20–34 reside with at least one parent, according to the most recent census data available from 2016. The share of Canadians in this age group who live at home has been on the rise since 2001.
The Angus Reid survey suggests some Canadians have yet to leave the nest as a result of debt. Five percent of respondents cites debt as a reason they have not moved out of their parents’ home. Of course, the high cost of housing has also been reported as keeping Millennials from striking out on their own.
While some are clearly struggling with debt levels, only 16 percent of indebted Canadians say debt is “difficult to manage,” and 24 percent of respondents report not owing a cent to creditors.
The survey results come at a time when some experts are flagging high household debt as a risk to the Canadian economy.
However, in a report published last week National Bank pointed out that Canadian bankruptcies are still around record lows, despite rising interest rates that may strain some households’ ability to manage debt.
