Statistics Canada says household debt-to-disposable income ratio falls in Q3

Household funds shift

Photo: The Canadian Press

Statistics Canada says the amount Canadian households owe relative to their income fell in the third quarter as a rise in disposable income outpaced the growth in debt.  

Statistics Canada says the amount Canadian households owe relative to their income fell in the third quarter as a rise in disposable income outpaced the growth in debt.

It was the sixth consecutive quarter that the measure declined.

The agency says the ratio of household credit market debt as a proportion of household disposable income in the third quarter fell to 173.1 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis, down from 175.3 per cent in the second quarter.

In other words, Statistics Canada says there was $1.73 in credit market debt for every dollar of household disposable income.

The move came as 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 — fell to 14.72 per cent in the third quarter compared with 14.98 per cent in the second quarter.

Debt payments rose 0.2 per cent as disposable income gained two per cent.