Household credit market debt, Canada

Household credit market debt is the total that Canadian households owe on mortgages, consumer credit and other loans, from Statistics Canada's national balance sheet accounts. It is published quarterly, seasonally adjusted, in Canadian dollars.

Mortgages make up roughly three quarters of the total, so the series follows the housing market: it grows fastest when home sales and prices rise and slows when higher rates or tighter lending rules cool demand. Canadian banks hold most of this debt on their balance sheets or through insured mortgage securitization, which makes its growth one of the main drivers of bank lending and of their exposure to housing.

On its own the level is less useful than it looks. It is a nominal amount, so it grows with prices and population even when households are not borrowing more relative to their means; the debt-to-disposable-income ratio page shows the burden. Quarterly growth rates are a better guide to momentum. Statistics Canada also revises the national balance sheet accounts as new information arrives, so recent quarters can change, and the series does not show how debt is spread across households.

The household credit market debt is at its highest since the series starts in Q1 2006. Within ten years, the household credit market debt beats 100% of readings.

Household sector credit market debt (national balance sheet basis).

Statistics Canada publishes the household credit market debt quarterly in Table 38-10-0238-01, in CAD and is seasonally adjusted. Code: 38100238:1.13. Method for the household credit market debt.