Ontario Construction News staff writer
According to a new Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation report, construction, retail and services workers were the most common deferrers of mortgage payments in the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Data from CMHC shows the three sectors had the largest share of workers who took advantage of deferral programs by last May on mortgages they had signed before March 31.
The high numbers of deferrals correlated with data showing the retail, construction and service industries were hit with the largest increases in unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In contrast, CMHC reported government, education and health-care workers had below-average shares of mortgage deferrals.
CMHC data shows the leisure and entertainment industry experienced a 12.9 per cent increase in the unemployment rate between April and May, but that spike did not produce a large volume of deferrals.
By the end of June 2020, 17.9 per cent of people with outstanding homeowner mortgages insured by CMHC had exercised payment deferral options and the bulk of those people seeking deferrals were in Quebec, Alberta, Ontario and British Columbia.