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A new report shows that Canadian consumer debt levels are on the rise.
The report, conducted by Equifax Canada’s 2017 Q4 National Consumer Credit Trends, details that more than half of Canadians saw an increase in their personal debt in 2017.
Including mortgages, Canadian consumers owe a whopping $1.821 trillion in debt as of the fourth quarter of 2017.
That's a 6% increase over to the fourth quarter of 2016 when Canadians owed $1.718 trillion in debt.
The average debt held by all Canadians up by 3.3% or $22,837 per person, according to the report.
Residents of Alberta carry the highest average debt, with Fort McMurray ($38,359), Calgary ($29,478) and Edmonton ($27,241) recording the top three average debt rates in Canada.
However, Canada's most expensive cities are quickly racking up more debt than the rest of the country.
Toronto and Vancouver have the highest year-over-year debt change, with both cities tied at a 5.2% increase, meaning residents could soon be carrying equal or greater debt than Alberta's largest cities.
A slightly surprising angle of the report is that millennials have proven to be the most responsible with their finances.
Equifax found that the 18-25 demographic recorded the lowest average debt, followed by the 26-35 age group.
“Millennials have had the highest delinquency rates in terms of age, but we’ve seen a 9% reduction in their delinquency rate from a year ago,” said Regina Malina, Senior Director of Decision Insights at Equifax Canada.
“Their overall debt has continued to increase, but they seem to be handling their payments better. This situation stresses the importance of financial literacy of younger Canadians.”
However, the high average debts of those aged 46 to 55 and 56 to 65 could be contributed to providing financial assistance to the demographic's millennial children.
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