Canadians say their personal finances haven’t been this bad in more than a decade, as they cope with falling prices for homes and rising prices for everything else.

In weekly polling by Nanos Research for Bloomberg News, 47 per cent of respondents said their finances have worsened over the past year. 

That’s the highest-ever reading for this question in surveys going back to 2008, surpassing the depths of the pandemic and the global financial crisis. Only 13 per cent said their finances have improved.

Every week, Nanos Research surveys 250 Canadians for their views on personal finances, job security, the economy and real estate prices. Bloomberg publishes four-week rolling averages of the 1,000 telephone responses.

Highlights from the latest data:

  • The Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index, a measure of sentiment derived from the polling, declined for a ninth straight week to 42.1, the lowest on record outside of the last two economic crises.
  • Canadians are extremely pessimistic about the outlook for the economy, with 64 per cent saying they expect it to deteriorate over the next six months and only 9 per cent seeing an improvement.
  • Sentiment around real estate has been sliding since March, when interest rates began to rise; 40 per cent of Canadians currently anticipate falling home prices over the next six months. That’s little changed from last week but is well above the single-digit levels from earlier this year.
  • Job security remains at about historic averages, with 13 per cent of respondents saying they are at least somewhat concerned about losing their job.