Another day older and deeper in debt.
That seems to be the song Canadians are singing these days as we borrowed another $10 billion in September. And about 80-percent of that was in the form of mortgages and home equity lines of credit.
And we charged nearly another billion on our credit cards in that month.
That means we crossed over the threshold of $3 trillion in personal debt in this country.
While the data shows clearly how rising home values coupled with higher interest rates for mortgage renewals are impacting Canadians through most of the country, September was actually something of an improvement as growth in mortgage debt was at its slowest rate in almost half a year. This may be a sign that falling interest rates are finally beginning to improve our balance sheets.
Higher mortgage rates and rising property values also hit the business community as well. While owners were able to pay off some of their non-mortgage debt in the month, they were still adding to their overall credit obligations because of rising real estate financing costs.
