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Canada’s Household Debt to Income Rises to 173.8% After Revisions

Canada’s Household Debt to Income Rises to 173.8% After Revisions

(Bloomberg) -- Canada’s debt to income ratio rose in the third quarter after revisions showed households owed more relative to their incomes than was previously believed.

The ratio climbed to 173.8 percent on an unadjusted basis, from 173.2 percent in the second quarter, Statistics Canada reported Friday in Ottawa. That’s down from a record 174.4 percent in the third quarter last year.

Canada’s Household Debt to Income Rises to 173.8% After Revisions

The agency also introduced a seasonally adjusted series, which showed the household debt ratio was little changed in the third quarter at 177.5%, from 177.4% in the second.

The debt to income ratio was revised upwards by an average of 3.4 percentage points since the beginning of 2016 after the introduction of new income data from Canada’s federal tax collection agency. Per capita national net worth climbed to a record C$324,000.

Debt service ratios were also revised. The third quarter unadjusted DSR was 13.96, down from 14.74 in the prior period. On an adjusted basis, the DSR was 14.51, the highest since 2008.

To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Hertzberg in Ottawa at eschmitzhert@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Theophilos Argitis at targitis@bloomberg.net, Chris Fournier

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