OTTAWA -- The amount Canadians owe relative to their income crept lower in the first quarter of this year as mortgage borrowing slowed along with a cooler housing market.
Statistics Canada says household credit market debt was equal to 168.0 per cent of household disposable income in the quarter. That compared with 169.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year.
In other words, there was $1.68 in credit market debt for every dollar of household disposable income.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, households borrowed $22.2 billion in the first quarter, down from $25.4 billion in the previous quarter.
Statistics Canada says mortgage borrowing fell $2.0 billion to $13.7 billion, the lowest level since the second quarter of 2014.
Total household credit market debt, which includes consumer credit and mortgage and non-mortgage loans, totalled $2.13 trillion in the first quarter.
