HomeMortgageHow’d we get into so much debt?

How’d we get into so much debt?

What’s contributing to Canadians’ debt loads lately? Mortgages, of course, but credit-card debt is also on the rise.

Karyne Charbonneau is executive director and senior economist at CIBC Capital Markets

Canadians have been in debt for a few decades now: the last time the national debt-to-disposable-​income ratio was even was in 1994. In the first quarter of 2022, Canadians owed $1.83 in debt for each dollar they made in a year. That’s very close to the all-time record of $1.85 in 2021.

The pandemic didn’t do much to alter the upward trajectory of our debt, but it has changed the composition of it. Consumer debt went down as Canadians made fewer purchases while trapped indoors. Households saved a total of $300 billion that they probably wouldn’t have without COVID restrictions.

On the other hand, mortgage debt ballooned along with the price…

Read more at www.macleans.ca

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