Hamilton in top-ten cities with homes in need of major repair

Hamilton is among the top ten cities with the most homes in need of major repairs.

The ranking comes courtesy of insurance comparison company MyChoice, which found Hamilton was seventh in Ontario for having the worst-kept homes. Their study comes as interest rates for home equity lines of credit (HELOC) have risen to a record high of 7.5 per cent, preventing many homeowners from making needed repairs.

MyChoice defined “major repairs” as significant issues like defective plumbing, electrical wiring, or structural repairs.

They found Thunder Bay was the city most in need of repairs at 7.5 per cent of homes in dire shape. Hamilton placed lower at seventh place with 6.6 per cent of homes needing work. However, it’s the ninth city on the list as there were two ties. The full ranking for the worst-kept cities are;

1. Thunder Bay (7.5)
2. Chatham-Kent & Windsor (7.2)
3. Sault Ste. Marie (7.1)
4. Kawartha Lakes & Sudbury (6.9)
5. Sarnia (6.8)
6. North Bay (6.7)
7. Hamilton (6.6)
8. Kingston (6.5)
9. Toronto (6.4)
10. Oshawa & Welland (6.3)

On the other hand, MyChoice also ranked cities by how well-kept the homes are. Vaughan claimed the top spot as having the best-maintained houses with only 2.5 per cent needing major repairs. The full ranking is;

1. Vaughan (2.5)
2. Milton (2.7)
3. Markham & Aurora (3)
4. Whitby (3.2)
5. Ajax, Brampton & Oakville (3.3)
6. Clarington (3.4)
7. Pickering (3.6)
8. Caledon, Richmond Hill & Waterloo (3.7)
9. New Market (4)
10. Burlington (4.1)

MyChoice CEO Aren Mirzaian said, “We’re seeing the inflation of home insurance rates in Canada, which, according to the Q3 Consumer Price Index, home and mortgage insurance rates have increased by 8.6% in 2023. The largest contributor to this would be rising home replacement costs due to inflation of building materials.”

Insurance costs have also risen as a result of Climate Change and the more frequent natural disasters it’s causing, such as the wildfires that blanketed Ontario over the summer. This has led to an increase in claims and, in turn, premiums.