Canadian household debt levels fell from a record in the fourth quarter as families slowed their pace of borrowing to the least in more than a decade.
Credit-market debt such as mortgages increased to 164.0 percent of disposable income, compared with a revised 164.2 percent in the prior three-month period, Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa. Total household debt was up 4.5 percent from a year earlier to C$1.77 trillion ($1.60 trillion), the slowest pace since 2001, according to the data.
Debt accumulation is slowing even as rising values of home and other assets boosted net worth to records, easing concern that overly leveraged households are a major danger to the nation’s economy. The Bank of Canada cites elevated household imbalances as one of the risks linked to maintaining loose monetary policy.
Article from Bloomberg News: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-14/canada-household-debt-ratio-falls-from-record.html
