According to a survey released by Manulife, more than 70% of Canadian homeowners are too stretched to cope with a payment hike.

In the Manulife Bank of Canada Debt Survey, more than 2,000 Canadian homeowners were polled, 24% of the respondents said that they have " caught short" in paying bills at some point in the past year. 51% said they have $5,000 or less saved for a rainy day, while 1 in 5 respondents have no emergency savings saved at all. 

Manulife reports that the problem was more severe among the Millennials, for whom the debt os rising more quickly than Gen-X or Baby-boomers. Millennials also emerged as the least to be prepared financially in the event of an emergency or unemployment.

Bank of Mom and Dad 

45% of Millennial homeowners said that they had received financial help from a family member when buying their first home. Compared tp 37% of Gen-X and 31% od Baby-Boomers, which isn't surprising when taking into consideration the price increases seen between the generations.

Baby-boomers do seem to be in a position to help their Millennial offspring, but 61% reported that they no longer have any mortgage debt, and the average debt amount among the remaining 39% is $180,000. 

Many of those Baby-boomers are relying on the equity in their homes for their personal wealth through retirement. 40% of Baby-boomers said that the home equity accounted for more than 60% of their household wealth, for 1 of 5 of them it makes up more than 80%. Although, 77% of the responding Baby-boomers want to remain in their current homes when they retire. 

"Many Baby-boomers approaching retirement share the same lack of financial flexibility as Millennials," said Lunny. "They want to remain in their current homes, but their home makes up a big part of their net worth. Instead of downsizing, or even selling and renting, homeowners in this situation could consider using a flexible mortgage to access their home equity to supplement their retirement income."