Key debt ratio ticked higher in Q3: StatCan

OTTAWA • The amount Canadians owe relative to their income ticked higher in the third quarter even as the pace of borrowing continued to slow.

Statistics Canada said Friday that household credit market debt as a proportion of disposable income was 177.5 per cent in the third quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis. That compared with 177.4 per cent in the second quarter.

In other words, Canadians owed nearly $1.78 in credit market debt, which includes consumer credit, mortgage and non-mortgage loans, for every dollar of household disposable income in the third quarter.

Priscilla Thiagamoorthy, economic analyst at BMO Capital Markets, said the health of Canadian balance sheets unexpectedly deteriorated in the quarter.

“But unlike in past quarters, the culprit is a weaker income backdrop rather than higher debt loads,” said Thiagamoorthy.

On an unadjusted basis, household credit market debt as a proportion of disposable income, excluding pension entitlements, increased to 173.8 per cent in the third quarter from a revised 173.2 per cent in the second quarter.

The household debt service ratio, measured as total obligated payments of principal and interest as a proportion of disposable income, was 14.5 per cent in the third quarter, relatively unchanged from the previous quarter. Household debt has been a key concern for the Canadian economy.

The Bank of Canada has been watching to see how well households have been adapting to higher borrowing costs as it has been raising its key interest rate.

The central bank has hiked its trendsetting rate five times since the summer of 2017, moves that have pushed the prime lending rates at Canada’s big banks higher.