Canadians’ household debt now 177% of disposable income

Statistics Canada says a key measure of household debt rose in the first quarter as the COVID-19 pandemic began to take hold of the economy.

The agency says that household credit market debt as a proportion of household disposable income rose to 176.9 per cent from 175.6 per cent. In other words, there was $1.77 in credit market debt for every dollar of household disposable income.

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READ MORE: A looming coronavirus debt crisis could swamp Canadian households

Statistics Canada added that annual trends show that lower income households tended to have a higher debt to disposable income ratio.

Overall, it says credit market debt totalled $2.33 trillion at the end of the quarter including $1.53 trillion in mortgage debt and $802.1 billion in consumer credit and non-mortgage loans.

The household debt service ratio — measured as total obligated payments of principal and interest on credit market debt as a proportion of household disposable income — fell to 14.67 per cent from 14.81 per cent.