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Canadian home values fell last year for the first time in three decades amid falling prices in some of the country’s priciest markets, even as debt burdens increased.

The value of residential real estate in Canada dropped $30 billion in the fourth quarter to $5.10 trillion, from $5.13 trillion in the same quarter the previous year, Statistics Canada reported Thursday.

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The 1.4 per cent decline is the first decrease in country-wide home values in data going back to 1990.

Households meanwhile saw their debt burdens rise at the end of last year, with the debt to disposable income ratio hitting a record 174 per cent in the fourth quarter.

The worsening reflects a sharp slowdown in economic growth at the end of last year.

Canadians are also spending a larger proportion of their income on servicing that debt. The debt service ratio — the proportion of a household’s income that goes to paying off principal and interest on debt — rose to 14.9 per cent in the quarter, the highest level since the fourth quarter of 2007.

Bloomberg.com