Mortgage borrowing drove household debt growth in August: StatsCan

Resurgent mortgage growth drove household debt higher in August, even as other forms of borrowing eased, according to new data from Statistics Canada.

StatsCan said in a new report that total household borrowing rose 0.3% in August to $2.88 trillion, an increase of $7.9 billion.

That household debt growth was entirely driven by mortgage borrowing, which increased 0.4% month-over-month and was up 4.6% year-over-year.

August marked the third straight month of accelerated growth in mortgage debt, StatsCan said, following two months of slower growth previously.

The data for other forms of borrowing remained flat, at $737.4 billion in August.

While credit card debt did grow 0.5% in August (an increase of $0.5 billion), StatsCan said that outstanding balances on home equity lines of credit decreased 0.8% in the same month (an increase of $0.8 billion).

Other kinds of non-mortgage borrowing also rose by $0.4 billion in August (an increase of 0.1% month-over-month), StatsCan noted.

James Langton

James is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on regulation, securities law, industry news and more since 1994.