Canadians struggling with record household debt
Posted February 17, 2011 6:33 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Canadian families keep sinking deeper into debt. The average family owes $100,000, according to the Vanier Institute of the Family.
Its report suggests our debt-to-income ratio has hit a new record in Canada, at 150 per cent. That means for every $1,000 in after-tax income, Canadian families owe $1,500.
Needless to say, that’s making it much more difficult to save. In 1990, Canadian families managed to set aside an average of $8,000; that’s a savings rate of 13 per cent. Last year, it was only 4.2 per cent — or $2,500.
The number of households behind in their mortgages by at least three months has also climbed; the latest numbers say it is 17,400 homes across the country.
