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

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says the amount Canadians owe relative to their income climbed higher for the fourth consecutive quarter.

The agency says the ratio of household credit market debt as a proportion of household disposable income was 176.7 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis, up from 176.3 per cent 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 per cent 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 per cent to nearly $3.2 trillion in the third quarter of 2025, with mortgages accounting for almost 75 per cent of the total.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 11, 2025.

The Canadian Press