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Indebtedness and the Household Financial Health: An Examination of the Canadian Debt Service Ratio Distribution

Author

Listed:
  • Umar Faruqui
Abstract
The household debt-to-disposable income ratio in Canada increased from 110 per cent in 1999 to 127 per cent in 2007. This increase has raised questions about the ability of households to service their increased debt if faced with a negative economic or socio-economic shock. The debt service ratio (DSR) measures the proportion of disposable income that households must devote to servicing their debt obligations. The aggregate DSR for Canada, as reported in the Bank of Canada's Financial System Review, has drifted up recently but remained below its historical average in 2007Q4. This would suggest that households' debt burden has remained broadly manageable. However, the aggregate DSR could mask potential vulnerabilities for the most heavily indebted households. The main contribution of this paper is that it examines the distribution of debt service burden amongst Canadian households using micro-data. This work shows that the density of households in the vulnerable tail of the DSR distribution has actually decreased somewhat since 1999, especially for lower-income households. Overall, our micro data analysis support inferences based on the aggregate data that, despite the increase in the debt-to-income ratio since the late 1990s, households remain well positioned to manage their increased debt levels. The paper also compares the DSR distributions for Canada and the U.S. The cross-country comparison suggests that, in 2004, the household sector in Canada seemed to be in a better financial position than U.S. households.

Suggested Citation

  • Umar Faruqui, 2008. "Indebtedness and the Household Financial Health: An Examination of the Canadian Debt Service Ratio Distribution," Staff Working Papers 08-46, Bank of Canada.
    • Handle: RePEc:bca:bocawp:08-46
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Thorvardur Tjörvi Ólafsson & Karen Á. Vignisdóttir, 2012. "Households’ position in the financial crisis in Iceland. Analysis based on a nationwide household-level database," Economics wp59, Department of Economics, Central bank of Iceland.
    2. James MacGee & Thomas Michael Pugh & Kurt See, 2022. "The heterogeneous effects of COVID‐19 on Canadian household consumption, debt and savings," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(S1), pages 54-87, February.
    3. Mathias Drehmann & Anamaria Illes & Mikael Juselius & Marjorie Santos, 2015. "How much income is used for debt payments? A new database for debt service ratios," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, September.
    4. Marianna Brunetti & Elena Giarda & Costanza Torricelli, 2016. "Is Financial Fragility a Matter of Illiquidity? An Appraisal for Italian Households," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 62(4), pages 628-649, December.
    5. Jooyung Lee, 2015. "Development of statistics for aggregate household debt service ratio in Korea," IFC Bulletins chapters, in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), Assessing household financial positions in Asia, volume 40, Bank for International Settlements.
    6. Alan Walks, 2014. "From Financialization to Sociospatial Polarization of the City? Evidence from Canada," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 90(1), pages 33-66, January.
    7. Felipe Martínez & Rodrigo Cifuentes & Carlos Madeira & Rubén Poblete-Cazenave, 2013. "Measurement of Household Financial Risk with the Survey of Household Finances," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 682, Central Bank of Chile.
    8. Grzegorz Wałęga & Agnieszka Wałęga, 2021. "Over-indebted Households in Poland: Classification Tree Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 153(2), pages 561-584, January.
    9. Marianna Brunetti & Elena Giarda & Costanza Torricelli, 2016. "Is Financial Fragility a Matter of Illiquidity? An Appraisal for Italian Households," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 62(4), pages 628-649, December.
    10. Marianna Brunetti & Elena Giarda & Costanza Torricelli, 2020. "Financial Fragility across Europe and the US: The Role of Portfolio Choices, Household Features and Economic-institutional Setup," CEIS Research Paper 487, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 28 May 2020.
    11. Césaire Meh & Yaz Terajima & David Xiao Chen & Thomas J. Carter, 2009. "Household Debt, Assets, and Income in Canada: A Microdata Study," Discussion Papers 09-7, Bank of Canada.
    12. Kartashova, Katya & Tomlin, Ben, 2017. "House prices, consumption and the role of non-Mortgage debt," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 121-134.
    13. Nora Azureen Abdul Rahman & Zunarni Kosim & Siew Goh Yeok, 2018. "The Characteristics of Household Loans in Conventional and Islamic Banks in Malaysia," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 8(7), pages 531-541, July.
    14. James MacGee, 2012. "The Rise in Consumer Credit and Bankruptcy: Cause for Concern?," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 346, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial stability; Monetary and financial indicators;

    JEL classification:

    • D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D39 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Other

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