Equifax Canada’s Market Pulse report said mortgage delinquency balances were up 32% nationally in the first quarter compared with the same period last year, with Ontario and British Columbia leading provinces at 52% and 36%, respectively

Canadians are increasingly struggling to keep up with their mortgages, especially in high-priced Ontario and British Columbia markets, a new report says.

Equifax Canada’s Market Pulse report, published Tuesday, said mortgage delinquency balances were up 32% nationally in the first quarter compared with the same period last year, with Ontario and British Columbia leading provinces at 52% and 36%, respectively.

This missed payment level highlights severe financial strain in high-priced markets, Equifax Canada said in a news release.

For homeowners who have missed a payment, their average delinquent non-mortgage balances reached $54,000 in the quarter, a 4.6% rise compared with a year ago. The average balance of their delinquent mortgages also jumped 13.2% to $355,500.

Homeowner insolvencies were up 11% compared with the fourth quarter of 2025, according to the report, with insolvent mortgage holders carrying an average non-mortgage debt of $82,400. More than 90% of those individuals chose consumer proposals over bankruptcy, the report said.

Despite the rise in delinquency balances, missed mortgage payments are rare — the 90-plus-day volume delinquency rate sits at 0.22%, which is below pre-pandemic levels.

Overall, when you look at mortgage mispayments, it is quite a small percentage, because consumers generally, they will try and protect their mortgage as long as possible, Rebecca Oakes, vice-president of advanced analytics at Equifax Canada, said in an interview.

But the reason we do focus a lot on mortgages is because it does demonstrate what the underlying financial stress is as well, she said.

Higher interest rates are a reason homeowners are having trouble keeping up with payments, Oakes said.

During the pandemic, we saw interest rates were super low. As those interest rates started to rise, we started to see the impact a little bit coming through on consumers with a mortgage, Oakes said.

In the last two years in particular, as those individuals have come to renew their mortgage on to higher rates, we’ve seen a bigger impact in terms of missed payment levels on the mortgage side of things, she said.

Not all provinces share Ontario and British Columbia’s pain. Quebec and Saskatchewan, for example, have seen missed payment levels go down.

Oakes said there could be an uptick in delinquencies as mortgages come up for renewal at higher rates.

The hope, of course, is that eventually these things start to stabilize. Interest rates have been held for a little while now, she said.

She said: The big concern will be if interest rates go back up again, will that add some additional financial pressure into the ecosystem.

The report found overall insolvency volumes have risen to the highest level since 2009, adding that systemic risks persist even while Canadians are staying financially disciplined to cope with economic challenges. Insolvency volumes for the first quarter of 2026 were up 18.8% year-over-year.