As of the first quarter of 2023, the average LTV ratio in Canada was 58.6 percent. The loan-to-value (LTV) ratio is a key metric that measures the size of the mortgage loan compared to the value of the asset purchased. Generally, higher loan-to-value ratios are associated with higher risk.

Quarterly non-bank outstanding residential mortgages by insurance status, amortization period, total debt service ratio, loan-to-value and, days in arrears, by lender type and number of mortgages, displayed in thousands of dollars, unless otherwise specified.

New mortgages as share of all mortgage loans in Canada averaged about five percent in the period from 2015 to 2023. In the third quarter of 2023, the share of new mortgages amounted to 4.1 percent of all mortgage loans. All figures show the ratio as of the third quarter of the year. In recent years, the size of the average new mortgage loan has been increasing, reaching its highest value in the third quarter of the year.

In 2022, the value of the lending to households in Switzerland as a share of its gross domestic product (GDP) was higher than in any of the countries selected here. Australian, Canadian, and South Korean households had an amount of credit which was higher than the overall size of their economy. That year, household lending in Argentina amounted to 4 percent of its GDP, which was the lowest figure in the ranking.

What is the household debt?

Household debt, also known as family debt, includes loans taken to pay for the home or other property, education, vehicles, and other expenses. The largest component of this is mortgage debt, which is seen by many as a way to build long-term equity. As such, households are willing to take on a large amount of this debt with the goal of owning an asset that holds value and can be used as a residence in the meantime.

The cost of debt

The cost of a loan depends on a number of factors such as the interest rate, borrower’s credit risk or time period of a loan. The value of mortgage and the rate of return on assets such as real estate also depend largely on geographic location. The highest borrowers in this statistic are likely living in countries where credit is affordable and expected returns are relatively high, incentivizing heavy borrowing.

Mortgage interest rates worldwide varied greatly in 2024, from less than four percent in many European countries, to as high as 44 percent in Turkey. The average mortgage rate in a country depends on the central bank's base lending rate and macroeconomic indicators such as inflation and forecast economic growth. Since 2022, inflationary pressures have led to rapid increase in mortgage interest rates. Which are the leading mortgage markets? An easy way to estimate the importance of the mortgage sector in each country is by comparing household debt depth, or the ratio of the debt held by households compared to the county's GDP. In 2023, Switzerland, Australia, and Canada had some of the highest household debt to GDP ratios worldwide. While this indicator shows the size of the sector relative to the country’s economy, the value of mortgages outstanding allows to compare the market size in different countries. In Europe, for instance, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France were the largest mortgage markets by outstanding mortgage lending. Mortgage lending trends in the U.S. In the United States, new mortgage lending soared in 2021. This was largely due to the growth of new refinance loans that allow homeowners to renegotiate their mortgage terms and replace their existing loan with a more favorable one. Following the rise in interest rates, the mortgage market cooled, and refinance loans declined.

Quarter-end data on the home equity lines of credit (HELOC) chartered bank for residential secured lending with properties in Canada (excluding business loans).