Theophilos Argitis – Bloomberg News

The ratio of Canadian household debt to disposable income fell for a second quarter after reaching a record last year, suggesting consumers are heeding warnings about the risks of too much borrowing.

Credit-market debt such as mortgages fell to 161.8% of disposable income, compared with a revised 162.6% in the prior three-month period, Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa. Mortgage borrowing grew at the slowest pace since the 2009 recession, the agency said.

Comment: So everyone whose doom & bubble policy is based on high debt and high prices, what do you say when debt levels drop? Debt goes down, sales volume increases, prices continue to rise. Any “experts” out there want to say something? Anything…? Didn’t think so.

Canadian policy makers have been trying to stem borrowing fueled by historically low interest rates out of concern the debt could destabilize the economy. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and the nation’s banking regulator tightened mortgage rules last year, while the Bank of Canada is the only Group of Seven central bank warning it may raise interest rates, in part to dissuade households from taking on too much debt.

In his April monetary policy report, then-Governor Mark Carney said household credit has been moderating, in part because of the central bank’s interest-rate bias, and predicted the debt-to-income ratio would stabilize this year. The ratio hit a record 162.8% in the third quarter of last year.

The growth in credit market debt slowed to 0.3% in the first quarter from 1% at the end of last year, Statistics Canada said today.

National net worth rose 2.1% to $7.10 trillion in the first quarter, Statistics Canada said, reflecting higher real estate prices. On a per capita basis, the increase was to $202,000 from $198,400.

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Laurin Jeffrey is a Toronto Realtor with Century 21 Regal Realty. He did not
write these articles, he just reproduces them here for people who are
interested in Toronto real estate. He does not work for any builders.
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