Key household debt ratio creeps lower in first quarter to 168.0 per cent
OTTAWA — The amount Canadians owe relative to their income posted its largest decline on record in the first quarter as mortgage borrowing slowed along with a cooler housing market.
Statistics Canada said Thursday household credit market debt was equal to 168.0 per cent of household disposable income in the quarter, its lowest level since the first quarter of 2016.
The ratio, which compared with 169.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, recorded its largest decline since the agency started tracking the measure in 1990.
The drop means there was $1.68 in credit market debt for every dollar of household disposable income.