(OTTAWA) Total residential mortgage debt in Canada stood at $2.08 trillion in January, up 6% from the same month last year, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) said Thursday.

However, the federal housing agency said in its new report that the growth rate of mortgage debt has slowed compared to recent years.

CMHC attributed the trend to inflation, rapidly rising interest rates and cooling housing markets, which weakened consumer confidence and reduced the number of potential buyers ready to complete a transaction. .

Many people choose to lower their monthly debt servicing costs and move to shorter term fixed rate mortgages because they expect interest rates to eventually come down.

According to the CMHC report, five-year fixed rate mortgages accounted for less than 15% of new mortgages in January, compared to 21% of new mortgages in January 2022 and 40% of new mortgages in the first month of 2021 .

Variable rate mortgages fell to less than 20% of new mortgages at the start of this year, down from nearly 57% in January 2022 and nearly 25% in January 2021.