OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the amount Canadians owe relative to their income held steady in the first quarter as debt and income grew at similar rates.

The agency says on a seasonally adjusted basis household credit market debt as a proportion of household disposable income remained at 177.6 per cent.

In other words, there was roughly $1.78 in credit market debt, which included consumer credit, and mortgage and non-mortgage loans, for every dollar of household disposable income.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, total credit market borrowing in the quarter edged down to $20.2 billion from $20.6 billion in the previous quarter. Canadians borrowed $7.0 billion in consumer credit and non-mortgage loans, while mortgage borrowing reached $13.2 billion.

Credit market debt totalled $2.23 trillion in the first quarter including $1.45 trillion in mortgage debt and $776.4 billion in consumer credit and non-mortgage loans.

The household debt service ratio, measured as total obligated payments of principal and interest on credit market debt as a proportion of household disposable income, was 14.9 per cent in the first quarter.