Canada Debt-to-Disposable Income Ratio Climbs to Fresh Record

Canadian household debt ascended to another record in the third quarter, underscoring why policy makers are stepping up efforts to limit the risks of a collapse in the nation’s real estate market.

Credit-market debt including mortgages was 163.7 percent of after-tax income, up by 1 percentage point from the second quarter, Statistics Canada said Monday in Ottawa. That figure was balanced by ratios of debt to assets and debt to net worth, which at 17 percent and 20.5 percent remain little changed over the past several quarters.