Total Canadian Household Credit Hits $1.595 Trillion, Sask. Consumers Spending Like Drunken Sailors

As I have said before, total Canadian household credit most likely passed the $1.6 trillion dollar mark by about the 20th of January 2012.  Today we have confirmation of debt numbers as of the end of Dec 2011 from the Bank of Canada.

Total household debt was at $1.595 trillion
Consumer debt was at $488 billion
Mortgage debt was at $1.107 trillion

Consumer debt growth growing at 3% year over year, is not really the problem, ( unless you are living in Saskatchewan, where consumers are "spending like drunken sailors" with retail sales up 12%, year over year, while the average wage is up 5% year over year) the problem is overall mortgage debt growth in Canada as it is still running over 7% year over year at 7.4%.

This is how year over year mortgage debt growth looks like over the last 3 years. 

1/1/2009	9.70%	1/1/2010	6.60%	1/1/2011	7.50%
2/1/2009	9.10%	2/1/2010	6.80%	2/1/2011	7.30%
3/1/2009	8.10%	3/1/2010	7.10%	3/1/2011	7.90%
4/1/2009	8%	4/1/2010	6.70%	4/1/2011	8%
5/1/2009	7.40%	5/1/2010	7.30%	5/1/2011	7.60%
6/1/2009	7.30%	6/1/2010	7.30%	6/1/2011	7.30%
7/1/2009	7.10%	7/1/2010	7.10%	7/1/2011	7.20%
8/1/2009	6.80%	8/1/2010	7.30%	8/1/2011	7.30%
9/1/2009	6.70%	9/1/2010	7.20%	9/1/2011	7.20%
10/1/2009	6.90%	10/1/2010	6.90%	10/1/2011	7.50%
11/1/2009	7.20%	11/1/2010	7.20%	11/1/2011	7.70%
12/1/2009	6.50%	12/1/2010	7.10%	12/1/2011	7.40%

Notice that mortgage debt growth was highest in 2011.  Like I have said before, those mortgage rules over the last few years have had little bite. With fixed mortgage rates hitting all time lows in January, and some places across the country reporting "busier activity" in regards to real estate, I am expecting mortgage debt growth to hit over 8% in January.  Unless a "Lehman type" event like a Greece default happens, I would not bet against more mortgage tightening if mortgage debt keeps growing faster than the Feds want.