Canada household debt remains near record 165%

Ottawa - Canadian household debt as a ratio of disposable income remained near a record in the first quarter.

Credit-market debt including mortgages was 165.3% of after-tax income, little changed from the 165.4% in the fourth quarter, Statistics Canada said on Tuesday in Ottawa.

The share of mortgage liabilities to total credit market debt reached 65.6% in the first quarter, "continuing an unbroken upward trend that began in the first quarter of 2010," the agency wrote. The last time the ratio reached that level was in the second quarter of 1997.

Concern that price gains in some real estate markets are outpacing fundamentals prompted Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz to warn last week that the increases are probably unsustainable.

This week the Washington-based International Monetary Fund flagged the "elevated level of household debt" and said the government may need to consider new restrictions on mortgage lending.

Ratios of debt to assets and debt to net worth were 16.9% and 20.3%, remaining little changed over the past several quarters.

Net worth as a percentage of disposable income rose to a record 824% in the first quarter, the agency said.