𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 2026 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬

It’s not the overleveraged 30-year-old chasing their third pre-con.

It’s the 60-year-old adding new debt.

𝘘𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘭𝘺.

Mortgage debt is now rising fastest among Canadians aged 55–64.

Nearly 1 in 3 Canadians who are retired or approaching retirement continue to make mortgage payments on their principal residence, a 3.5x growth since 1999.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞.

These borrowers behave very differently than other borrowers.

They’re often:

👴 Leveraging home equity to help family 

😬 Taking on new obligations without a clear income runway 

👵 Carrying debt into what used to be their “exit” years 

On paper, they can look strong. Real estate, equity, clean credit. 

But dig one layer deeper and the risk profile shifts:

📉 Fixed (even shrinking) income

🚨 A more limited ability to recover from shocks

🔒 And far less flexibility if something goes wrong

These files may not be as straightforward as they first seem.

They’re slower, more emotional and often more complicated than anyone expects at the outset.

The takeaway is simple: 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠.

And if your underwriting assumptions are not changed with them, you may not be pricing risk properly.