Mortgage and Consumer Credit Trends: Q3 2020 Data

December 23, 2020

Our latest release of Mortgage and Consumer Credit Trends data tables cover the third quarter of 2020. Here are some key highlights from the data:

Mortgage delinquency rates are steady

  • Delinquency rates are steady across Canada at 0.3%. Montreal continues to trend under the national average. Toronto and Vancouver maintain a flat rate, much lower than national average, at 0.12% and 0.16%, respectively.
  • Delinquency rates are stable across age cohorts with the highest delinquency rates in the 65 and over age group (0.37%), while the 25 – 34 age group — usually first time homebuyers being the lowest (0.25%).
  • HELOCs and Lines of Credit delinquency rates continue to be relatively flat and low at 0.17% and 0.62% respectively. The rates for credit cards decreased by 27 basis points to 1.35% and auto loans decreased 20 basis points to 1.89%.

ccredit scores remain high

  • The average credit scores of non mortgage holders (752), mortgage holders (764) and new mortgage originators (753) remained relatively unchanged and high.
  • The share of mortgages held by consumers with high credit scores (700+) continues to trend higher. It represents 87.48% of outstanding loans, as well as 85.76% of new mortgage loans.
  • Compared to the previous year, 30.81% of mortgage holders increased their credit score, while 28.49% of their non-mortgage holding counterparts saw their score move higher.  

Negative year-over-year growth in outstanding balance of all credit types

  • Compared to Q3 2019, non mortgage holders experienced a negative growth in all credit types, most notably in the LOC (-8.11%) and credit card (-11.42%) categories.
  • Similarly, mortgage holders also experienced a decline across all credit types with the largest decreased seen in the same categories of LOC (-9.31%) and credit card (-11.8%).

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

  • The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant social and economic impacts in 2020 throughout all of Canada. We have observed unprecedented declines in employment, pressures on households and increased financial stresses.
  • CMHC continues to monitor the economic impacts associated with the severity and duration of COVID-19, as this pandemic poses a major risk to housing and financial markets.

Get the data tables

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Date Published: December 23, 2020