Consumer debt levels in Vancouver jumped by more than 7% at the end of 2013's fourth quarter when compared with the same period one year ago, making it the only major city not to see a decrease.
The average decrease across Canada was 0.42% to $27,485 per person. In the country's major cities – which includes Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto – there were significant declines in debt levels. The biggest drop was in Montreal, down 5.54% to $18,563. Ottawa saw the smallest decline at $3.72% to $24,449.
There are a few reasons why consumer debt grew in Vancouver while it shrank in the rest of the country, said Tom Higgins, vice-president of analytics and decisioning services for TransUnion.
"[Vancouver has] lower unemployment rates than the rest of the country, so there are more people working," Higgins told Business in Vancouver.
"The economy out in Vancouver has been pretty good. Real estate has been great. Incomes are higher, standard of living are higher, and all of that allows people to access more credit and use more credit."
British Columbia as a whole also saw growth of consumer debt of 4.17% to $38,682. year-over-year.
Across Canada, the biggest contributor to consumer debt was credit card debt, making up almost 38%, or $10,400 per person.
TransUnion’s findings run contrary to those found by Equifax Canada, published earlier this month. Equifax’s report found that Vancouver had the country’s biggest drop in consumer debt over the same period.
