We’ve had some interesting data recently that has some Canadians wearing smug looks. The most gratifying is the hotly-debated report from Environics which indicates Canadians are richer than Americans. It says the average Canadian household was worth about $363,000 in 2011, compared to almost $320,000 in the U.S., a difference of more than $40,000 – dollars that are pretty much at par. Of course, home prices had a lot to do with it. Canada didn’t see the collapse that the U.S. did and skyrocketing values in Vancouver and Toronto did a lot to jack up the national average.
The big credit monitoring firm, Equifax, says Canadians have slowed the speed at which they are driving themselves into debt. It says the rate of debt-growth dropped to 3.1% from 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Credit card debt is down 3.8% and Canadians are sticking with their existing debt vehicles and not opening new accounts. Mortgage debt isn’t included.
And one dire sounding report that isn’t as bad as it seems from the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. It suggests 48% of the people surveyed would find it “challenging” to meet their mortgage or debt payments if there was a “significant rate hike”. By “significant”, they appear to mean a 3.5% increase over what they are paying now. Rate increases will surely come but, given the current state of affairs, that sort of bump is highly unlikely. Also, keep in mind that “challenged” is not the same as “unable”.

BEST RATES

1 Yr – 2.39%

3 Yr – 2.64%

5 Yr – 2.89%

VRM – 2.65%

Lee Welbanks is a Mortgage Broker with Welbanks Financial Group, Lee will be posting these informative “Market Minutes” each week for you to enjoy. Please remember to the Spring Realty Insider Club list to receive new blog post notifications, featured properties and insider access to Toronto’s hottest new developments right to your inbox. Find us on Facebook and Twitter too!

 

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