Amount Canadians owe relative to income continued to tick higher in third quarter

The agency says the ratio of household credit market debt as a proportion of household disposable income was 176.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis, up from 176.3% in the second quarter as debt continued to grow faster than income.

In other words, Statistics Canada says there was $1.77 in credit market debt for every dollar of household disposable income in the third quarter.

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 — was 14.64% in the third quarter, down from 14.68% in the second quarter.

The results came as the pace of household credit market borrowing eased to a seasonally adjusted $33.5 billion in the third quarter, compared with $34.5 billion in the second quarter. 

Mortgage demand dropped to $23.4 billion from $27.8 billion in the second quarter, while demand for non-mortgage debt increased to $10.1 billion from $6.7 billion in the second quarter.

The seasonally adjusted stock of household credit market debt grew 1.0% to nearly $3.2 trillion in the third quarter of 2025, with mortgages accounting for almost 75% of the total.

Visited 199 times, 6 visit(s) today

Dashboard household debt household income mortgage activity national account balance sheet statcan statistics canada

Last modified: December 11, 2025