Canadians who have recently purchased, renewed or refinanced a mortgage want to quickly pay off their debt, a survey by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation indicated.
78 per cent of respondents said they wanted to pay their mortgages off as fast as possible.

The results indicate a strong tendency amongst Canadians to take advantage of opportunities to aggressively tackle housing debt, a sign homeowners are "fundamentally cautious" about their housing debt, CMHC said.

Eighty-four per cent of homeowners who are making weekly or biweekly payments on their mortgages are doing so at an accelerated rate in order help to shorten their amortization period, according to the mortgage insurer quoted by the Times Colonist.

In addition, half of the participants indicated that whenever possible, they would use extra money to pay down the principal on their mortgage.

"The fact that new homeowners are working to pay down principal early and are accelerating payments is a good indication that this responsible behavior will continue throughout the life of their mortgage," said Pierre Serre, vice-president of insurance products and development for CMHC.

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