Nearly six in ten Canadians with a mortgage are experiencing financial stress, with younger homeowners likely to be under more pressure.

A new survey conducted by Léger found that 68 percent of participants aged 18 to 34 who have a mortgage report feeling significantly or somewhat stressed about their mortgage loans, compared to 62 percent among all homeowners.

Last week, the Bank of Canada lowered its key interest rate, providing some relief to borrowers after a central bank battle against inflation pushed the prime lending rate to a peak of five percent.

Four in ten Canadians surveyed by Léger believe the Bank of Canada should be cautious in lowering interest rates, but another third feel it is not moving quickly enough.

Participants in households earning more than $100,000 annually were more likely to say they support the central bank's caution.

Although the sharp rise in interest rates has brought inflation closer to the Bank of Canada's target of 2 percent, it has also put pressure on Canadian households and weighed down the economy.

Among those surveyed with mortgage loans, 77 percent have a fixed interest rate.

Of those with fixed-rate mortgages, 43 percent say their mortgage is up for renewal this year or next year.

Two-thirds of participants whose mortgages are set to renew in the next two years plan to seek a fixed-rate mortgage. Younger participants were more likely to say they would choose a variable rate.

Léger surveyed the opinions of 1,528 Canadians from June 7 to 9. A margin of error cannot be assigned to online surveys as they do not randomly sample the population.