Posted increases maintained the pace of growth seen in March, says statistics agency
Latest data from Statistics Canada indicated that real estate secured debt, which is comprised of both mortgage debt and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), went up by 0.2% ($4.5 billion) to reach $2.289.9 trillion in April.
The agency added that total household credit liability (including mortgage and non-mortgage loan debt) ticked up by 0.2% to reach $2.853.0 trillion, maintaining the pace of growth seen in March.
Household mortgage debt went up by 0.2% on a monthly basis and by 2.6% on an annualized basis to reach $2.120.7 trillion in April.
StatCan said that the annual pace of growth in this metric was the slowest since May 2018, despite home sales rising for the third straight month in April. Total existing home sales increased by 11.3%, while the average sales price went up by 3.8% to roughly $684,000.
“The average sale price in April represented 86.6% of the peak posted in February 2022,” StatCan said. “With the policy interest rate increasing to 4.75% in June, debt pressures are likely to increase in the coming months.”
Canadians’ non-mortgage loan debt ticked up by 0.3% ($2.3 billion) in April. On an annualized basis, non-mortgage debt load went up by 3.8% in April, building up on a 1.3% increase in March.
Credit card debt at chartered banks grew by 1.5% ($1.5 billion), while outstanding balances on HELOCs remained stable in April, from a 0.3% decrease in March.
