{"id":215540,"date":"2019-05-23T01:13:45","date_gmt":"2019-05-23T05:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=215540"},"modified":"2019-05-23T01:13:45","modified_gmt":"2019-05-23T05:13:45","slug":"cmhc-says-canadians-debt-levels-hit-record-highs-at-end-of-last-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/05\/23\/cmhc-says-canadians-debt-levels-hit-record-highs-at-end-of-last-year\/","title":{"rendered":"CMHC says Canadians debt levels hit record highs at end of last year"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The debt to income ratio of Canadians hit a record high of 178.5 per cent in the fourth quarter last year as mortgage holders continued to take on non-mortgage debt. (Pixabay photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO — Canadian household debt reached a record high at the end of last year even as mortgage activity slowed, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said in a report out Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The debt to income ratio of Canadians hit a record high of 178.5 per cent in the fourth quarter last year as mortgage holders continued to take on non-mortgage debt.<\/p>\n

The ratio increased as average monthly required payments rose 4.5 per cent compared with a year earlier, while disposable income rose only 2.5 per cent, the agency said.<\/p>\n

Debt levels rose as average balances for credit cards and lines of credit grew at a faster pace than in 2017, especially in Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto, it said.<\/p>\n

Delinquency rates, however, remain low and stable, said CMHC senior market analyst Genevieve Lapointe in the report.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite high debt levels, delinquency rates remain low and the number of highly indebted and more vulnerable consumers has decreased.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mortgage delinquency rate came in at 0.3 per cent, up 0.01 of a percentage point, while the share of mortgages held by those with credit scores below 600 continued to trend lower.<\/p>\n

The total number of new mortgages issued in the quarter came in at 223,000, down 4.8 per cent from a year earlier.<\/p>\n

The slower volume came as the market slowed and average prices fell on slightly higher interest rates, slower economic growth and stricter mortgage regulations.<\/p>\n

The new mortgage regulations, which set higher stress-tests for would-be borrowers in an effort to slow the market, have come under criticism in some corners for making real estate less accessible.<\/p>\n

The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that Canada should maintain the regulations because household debt remains high, and a gradual slowdown in the housing market is desirable.<\/p>\n

The average value of new loans in the quarter was 3.8 per cent lower than a year ago at $264,000 as house prices remain historically elevated, while the average value of all mortgages rose 3.1 per cent to $209,570 in the quarter, said the CMHC.<\/p>\n

The agency said debt issues are increasing for older consumers as the share of mortgage holders 55 and older continues to grow. It said mortgage delinquency rates in the 65-and-above age group have been rising and have been the highest of all age grounds since late 2015, while still relatively low.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO — Canadian household debt reached a record high at the end of last year even as mortgage activity slowed, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":215541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-215540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","category-real-estate","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215540"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":215542,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215540\/revisions\/215542"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}