The Bank of Canada's rapid interest rate hikes have caused the repayment period for many variable rate mortgages to extend to over 30 years, in order to protect households from higher borrowing costs but increasing their debt loads. This has caused more than 20% of the mortgage portfolio of the big six Canadian banks to have a repayment period greater than 30 years in the first quarter. There is a risk that customers may not be able to service the bigger debt at higher rates during renewals if interest rates remain high over the next few years.
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