Statistics Canada says the amount households owe, measured as a proportion of their income, rose in the second quarter.
The agency says credit market debt as a proportion of household disposable income increased to 169.1 per cent as growth in debt outpaced income. In other words, Canadians owed $1.69 in credit market debt for every dollar of household disposable income.
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The ratio was up from 168.3 per cent in the first quarter, however it was down from 169.7 per cent in the second quarter last year. On a seasonally adjusted basis, households borrowed $19.6 billion in the quarter, down from $22.2 billion in the previous quarter.
On an unadjusted basis, household credit market debt, which includes consumer credit, and mortgage and non-mortgage loans, totalled $2.16 trillion.