Monthly credit aggregates, July 2021
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Released: 2021-09-17
Households' mortgage borrowing eases after record borrowing in previous month
Household sector borrowing is divided into financing in the form of non-mortgage loans, or funds principally for consumption, and mortgage loans, or debt acquired to finance the purchase of a property.
Household mortgage debt rose 0.9% in the month of July. However, this was a deceleration from the last three months, which all recorded growth of over 1% on a month-over-month basis. July's growth represented a rise of $16.1 billion from June. Compared with July 2020, mortgage borrowing was up 9.6%, a pace not seen since September 2008. The slower pace of mortgage borrowing was accompanied by the fourth consecutive decrease in the volume of existing home sales, which were down 15.2% compared with July 2020. The value of existing sales was only 2.2% lower than the same month last year, as resale prices—although down from their March peak—remained elevated.
New residential construction declined for a third consecutive month following a record peak in April, but also remained at elevated levels compared with 2020. Additionally, the OSFI stress test for uninsured mortgages went into effect on June 1, which may have resulted in additional pre-approvals prior to the deadline as borrowers, sought to obtain funds under the previous rules.
Non-mortgage debt edged up 0.1% in July to $793.6 billion. Credit card debt and lines of credit with chartered banks were the main contributors to the increase, with credit card debt recording a fifth consecutive month of positive growth to $77.2 billion, but still down from its pre-pandemic balance of $88.7 billion. Lines of credit rose by $1.2 billion, but growth was fuelled entirely by strength in home equity lines of credit (HELOCs). The growth from credit cards and lines of credit were mostly offset by a decline in other personal loans.
Overall, the total credit liabilities of households reached $2,549.9 billion in July, a 0.7% increase from June. Real estate secured debt, composed of both mortgage debt and home equity lines of credit, increased by 0.9% (+$17.2 billion) to $2,022.8 billion.
Chart 1
Month-over-month change in household mortgage loans
Private non-financial corporation borrowing
In July, total non-mortgage loan liabilities of private non-financial corporations grew for the fourth consecutive month, increasing 0.8% (+$6.1 billion). Non-mortgage loans provided by chartered banks were again the main driver, with an increase of 1.0% (+$4.7 billion), which was nearly identical to their growth in the previous month.
Federal government support programs for businesses continued to account for the increase in government lending to private non-financial corporations. While the Canadian Business Emergency Account closed for applications at the end of June, applications submitted before the deadline resulted in additional funds being drawn by corporations in July. Altogether, the pace of government lending to private corporations slowed from previous months, increasing 1.5% in July (+$1.1 billion).
Private non-financial mortgage debt rose 0.9% (+$3.2 billion) to $351.9 billion.
In terms of debt securities, private non-financial corporations recorded net retirements in debt securities of $2.3 billion in July, mainly as a result of net retirements in long-term instruments (i.e., bonds).
Overall, total credit liabilities of private non-financial corporations stood at $2,908.1 billion at the end of July.
Chart 2
Changes in stock of non-mortgage loans to private non-financial corporations, by lender
Note to readers
Overview of the monthly credit aggregates
The monthly credit aggregates break down a portion of the quarterly National Balance Sheet Accounts (NBSA) by month. They provide details on lending to households and non-financial corporations—in other words, the stock of these sectors' outstanding liabilities from the debtor perspective—across a range of credit instruments, including mortgage loans, non-mortgage loans, and debt and equity securities. The aggregates cover all lending sectors, including chartered banks, non-bank deposit-taking institutions, other financial corporations, government and other lenders. The estimates are presented as booked-in-Canada to capture activity within Canada with either domestic or non-resident lenders. Additionally, amounts are reported on an end-of-period basis (i.e., the value of the stock of an asset on the final day of the month). The third month of each quarter is benchmarked to the corresponding quarterly release of the NBSA.
The NBSA are composed of the balance sheets of all sectors and subsectors of the economy. The main sectors are households, non-profit institutions serving households, financial corporations, non-financial corporations, government, and non-residents. The NBSA cover all national non-financial assets and all financial asset-liability claims outstanding in all sectors and—similarly—they present stocks as of the end of each quarter.
Estimates are available on a seasonally adjusted basis to improve the interpretability of period-to-period changes in debt. For information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions.
For more information on the concepts, methodologies and classifications used to compile these monthly estimates, please see the document "Guide to the Monthly Credit Aggregates."
Next release
Data on the monthly credit aggregates for August will be released on October 20, 2021.
Products
The document "Guide to the Monthly Credit Aggregates," which is part of Latest Developments in the Canadian Economic Accounts (13-605-X), is available.
The document "An overview of revisions to the Financial and Wealth Accounts, 1990 to 2020," which is part of Latest Developments in the Canadian Economic Accounts (13-605-X), is available.
The data visualization product "Financial accounts on a from-whom-to-whom basis, selected financial instruments," which is part of Statistics Canada – Data Visualization Products (71-607-X), is available.
The data visualization product "Distributions of Household Economic Accounts, Wealth: Interactive tool," which is part of Statistics Canada – Data Visualization Products (71-607-X), is available.
The data visualization product "Securities statistics," which is part of Statistics Canada – Data Visualization Products (71-607-X), is available.
The Economic Accounts Statistics Portal, accessible from the Subjects module of the Statistics Canada website, provides an up-to-date portrait of national and provincial economies and their structure.
The User Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-606-G) is available.
The Methodological Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-607-X) is available.
Contact information
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