The looming Canadian Debt Crisis?

I was going to post my thoughts on the new R/E theme that 'HAM is not prevalent in Vancouver' yesterday but didn't get a chance.  Look for it later this week.

Other themes from the past couple of weeks have been the European/Greek debt crisis, the US debt situation and Carney/Flaherty's comments on the Canadian debt situation.

Ultimately all these topics are inter-connected, which is why we focus on them.

And the Canadian debt situation will hinge on how all these external factors play out.

Our blogging colleague Ben Rabidoux, who now blogs on his great new site The Economic Analyst, has come out with some great graphs that reflect the status of Canadians. 

The first clearly show how debt is exploding in Canada as the growth in lines of credit is compared to the growth of disposable income, GDP and inflation (click on images to enlarge):

Next the growth in Mortgage debt is similarly compared:

Mortgage debt as a percentage of GDP:

And finally how mortgage rates have fallen over the past 30 years:

For the past 2 years there has been a steady stream of warnings from analysts that the artificial accomodative money policies of the past 30 years will be coming to an end.

Our own central banker and federal finance minister have spent the past year issuing warnings that Canadians should get ready for interest rates that will return to the historic norm.

These charts clearly show why they are concerned.

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