Online searches for payday loans exceed mortgage searches, new data shows

A search analytics firm has found that the number of online searches for payday loans far outranked mortgage-related queries over the past year in Canada.

New data from SEMrush shows that payday loans came in first out of 10 different types of loans, garnering an average search volume of 29,000 a month on search engines such as Google.

That's more than 50 per cent above what would-be borrowers wracked up in mortgage searches, which hit 18,800 a month between June 2017 and June 2018.

The data comes after a year of slumping residential home sales across the country.

The Canadian Real Estate Association said June sales were down 10.7 per cent compared to a year earlier, a five-year low for the month.

SEMrush said student loan searches clocked in at a close third with 17,800 a month, followed by consolidation loans and car loans.