Debt loads remain at record 165%

For every dollar of disposable income they make, Canadians owe almost two-thirds more than that in consumer debt, new data out of Statistics Canada showed Friday.

The statistics agency reported Friday that Canadian debt loads were higher in all categories at the end of 2012, with mortgage debt hitting $1.1 trillion and consumer debt at $477 billion.

Across the board, debt loads were 5.5 per cent higher in the last three months of 2012 than they were in the third quarter. The level of household debt to disposable income held steady at almost 165 per cent, Statistics Canada said.

But our net worth also increased, as the value of assets moved higher just as debt loads did. Overall, the national net worth increased to $6.9 trillion in the fourth quarter, up one per cent from the third quarter of 2012 as real estate assets, stocks and pension holdings were all higher.

Nationally, Canada's net worth increased to $6.9 trillion in the fourth quarter. Per capita, that works out to $195,900 per person.