Housing slowdown suggests prudent debt management: CIBC September 26, 2010
Posted by Mary Pougnet in Finance, Housing, Mortgages, Real Estate in Canada.2 comments
The housing slowdown suggests consumers are being more “prudent” with credit after accumulating a record amount of household debt earlier this year, said CIBC’s CEO.
Gerry McCaughey is confident that Canadians can maintain meeting their payments and suggested that the mortgage lending slowdown is positive at an investor conference sponsored by his bank in Montreal.
“The consumer is probably taking a pause and acting in a prudent fashion, and that’s what’s driving this slowdown in the housing market,” said McCaughey. “I think that is a good thing because interest rates will rise back to normal levels. It would be a good idea to have the level of total debt at a more manageable state.”
Earlier this month, Statistics Canada reported household debt hit $1,481 trillion during the second quarter of 2010, up from $1.385 billion during the same period last year.
