Monthly credit aggregates, December 2021
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Released: 2022-02-18
Household borrowing
Households added mortgage debt at a relatively slower pace in December, with total mortgage liabilities growing $10.4 billion (+0.5%) from November to reach $1,950.7 billion at the end of 2021. While the volume of existing home sales was lower in December on an unadjusted basis, the average sale price remained above the $700,000 mark. In December, new home prices for Canada grew (+0.2%) at their slowest pace since June 2020 according to the New Housing Price Index.
Compared with December 2020, mortgage debt was up 10.3%, as rising home prices and strong sales activity fuelled a record $182.4 billion increase in mortgage debt over the 12 months of 2021. By comparison, 2020 was a short-lived record with $119.6 billion in additional mortgage debt. The total volume of home sales over 2021 was 20.7% higher than 2020 while the annual average price climbed 21.3%. Nationally, new home prices were up 10.3% in 2021 compared with 2020 (+2.1%), the largest annual increase since 1989.
Non-mortgage debt edged down 0.3% in December to reach $707.5 billion, with household credit card debt, personal loan plans, and other personal loans from chartered banks as the main contributors to the decline. After a sizeable increase in credit card liabilities with chartered banks in November, households reduced this form of debt to $82.1 billion by December 2021. While December tends to be a month when credit card debt rises, due to seasonal spending, renewed restrictions related to the emergence of the Omicron variant impeded this trend. Similarly, an advance estimate suggests that retail sales decreased 2.1% in December after a rise of 0.7% to $58.1 billion in November. Lines of credit including home equity lines of credit were up roughly $800 million as balances reached $224.9 billion by the end of December, marking a steady climb from the recent low of $220.7 billion in July, a level last recorded in 2010.
Overall, the total credit liabilities of households were $2,658.2 billion in December, a 0.3% rise from November. Real estate secured debt, composed of both mortgage debt and home equity lines of credit, increased by 0.5% (+$10.9 billion) to reach $2,119.3 billion. On a seasonally adjusted basis, total credit liabilities of households were up 0.4% in December.
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.
Chart 1
Month-over-month change in household mortgage loans
Private non-financial corporation borrowing
In December, total non-mortgage loan liabilities of private non-financial corporations rose 1.5% (+$11.3 billion) to $784.3 billion. The increase in non-mortgage loans provided by chartered banks (+$11.2 billion), predominantly in the form of banker's acceptances, drove the increase.
For the fourth consecutive month, private non-financial corporations reduced their outstanding debt with Canadian governments as financial support programs, such as the Canada Business Emergency Account, continued to experience modest overall net repayments of borrowed funds.
In terms of debt securities, private non-financial corporations recorded net issuances of $6.4 billion in December, mainly in the form of long-term instruments (i.e., bonds). This was accompanied by a net issuance in listed shares of $22.7 billion related to sizeable merger and acquisition activity in December.
The mortgage debt of private non-financial corporations rose 0.7% (+$2.4 billion) to reach $342.4 billion. Overall, total credit and equity liabilities (i.e., listed shares) of private non-financial corporations surpassed three trillion dollars in December, an increase of 1.9% (+$58.1 billion) compared with November.
Over the course of 2021, private non-financial corporations accumulated an additional $93.5 billion in loan liabilities and recorded net issuances of $38.1 billion in debt securities. Total credit liabilities, which is composed of loans and debt securities (with both being impacted by changes in exchange rates) grew by $129.0 billion in 2021.
Chart 2
Changes in stock of non-mortgage loans to private non-financial corporations, by lender
Note to readers
Revisions
The release of the monthly credit aggregates for the month of December 2021 includes new series covering additional details for certain lending sectors as well as the inclusion of a new sub-total for private non-financial corporations reflecting the definition of total credit liabilities as loans and debt securities. An overview of the conceptual, methodological and statistical revisions implemented as part of the comprehensive revision to the national balance sheet accounts (NBSA) as part of the November release of the monthly credit aggregates is available in "An overview of revisions to the Financial and Wealth Accounts, 1990 to 2021."
Overview of the monthly credit aggregates
The monthly credit aggregates break down a portion of the quarterly 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. In addition, 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 at 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 January 2022 will be released on March 22, 2022.
Products
As a complement to this release, the documents "Guide to the Monthly Credit Aggregates" and "An overview of revisions to the Financial and Wealth Accounts, 1990 to 2020," which are part of Latest Developments in the Canadian Economic Accounts (13-605-X), are available.
As a complement to this release, the data visualization products "Financial accounts on a from-whom-to-whom basis, selected financial instruments," "Distributions of Household Economic Accounts, Wealth: Interactive tool" and "Securities statistics," which are part of Statistics Canada – Data Visualization Products (71-607-X), are also 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
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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