Report underscores rising cost of living in Hamilton

Homeowners hold more debt than non-homeowners — but are less likely to miss bill payments

While homeowners in Hamilton shoulder 23 times more total debt than non-homeowners, they are less likely to miss bill payments, according to a new report by the credit and financial services company Borrowell.

The report — released Thursday and based off more than 874,000 credit reports from residents in 15 major Canadian cities — highlights a correlation between the rising costs of living and housing inequality.

“It’s clear why the rising cost of living is the number one issue for Canadians leading up to this election, with many communities across the country facing significant strain,” Andrew Graham, co-founder and chief executive officer of Borrowell, said in a release.

“One in every five Canadians on average has at least one missed bill payment. Every bill payment matters, and one delinquent bill can be the difference between being approved or denied for additional credit.”

According to the report, which pored over 13,723 credit reports from city residents, close to 24 out of 100 people in Hamilton without real estate missed a bill payment — more than four times the number of homeowners at nearly six out of 100.

And that’s despite non-homeowners having roughly $365,500 less total debt than homeowners. In Hamilton, the average debt of people who don’t own homes is $16,353, compared with local homeowners, whose average mortgage balance is $354,767 and who also carry $27,119 in nonmortgage debt.

The city’s non-homeowner missed bill payment rate of 0.236 ranked highest in Ontario — ahead of London (0.218), Ottawa (0.179) and Toronto (0.129) — and fifth highest in Canada, the report found.

Hamilton homeowners clocked in with a missed bill payment rate of 0.056 — second highest in Ontario, but roughly half the national average of 0.107.

The report suggests homeowners and non-homeowners in Canada are experiencing financial difficulties very differently. “These missed payment stats indicate that rising living costs are quite pronounced for nonhomeowners or renters in these major cities,” Borrowell said in the report.