Statistics Canada said Wednesday the amount of household credit-market debt as a proportion of household disposable income slipped to 166.9 per cent in the quarter, compared with 167.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year. OTTAWA—The amount Canadians owe compared with their income ticked lower in the first quarter but remained near record levels as mortgage debt continued to climb. Economists and policy-makers, including the Bank of Canada, have raised concerns about household debt and see it as a key risk to the economy. Household income gained 0.9 per cent, Statistics Canada said, greater than the 0.7-per-cent increase in household credit market debt. Mortgage debt represented 65.7 per cent of that, up from 65.6 per cent during the last three months of last year.

Source: thestar June 14, 2017 17:03 UTC