The amount of overall debt being taken on by Canadians continues to grow, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada.
The national data agency based in Ottawa reported that total credit market debt — which includes the mortgages, credit cards and other forms of personal debt that people owe — amounted to $2.3 trillion in the first quarter of 2019. That's an increase of 0.2% from the last quarter of 2018.
In its report, Statistics Canada said that the numbers suggest Canadians are continuing to borrow more, especially for mortgages, but are starting to ease off on other types of debt such as credit cards. Canadians borrowed $20.2 billion worth of new debt during the first quarter of 2019. That's about $400 million less than they borrowed during the previous quarter.
Mortgage debt increased by $700 million during the period, but that was offset by a reduction of more than $1 billion in other types of debt. The debt to disposable income level came in at 177.6% during the first quarter, the same level as it was at the end of 2018. That means for every dollar of disposable income that households have to spend, they owe almost $1.78.
