Canada is not the United States

Recently the Calgary Herald issued a story entitled. "Mortgage arrears rate highest in Alberta" . Reading this you would think that Alberta was going to be the next foreclosure capital of Canada. Following in the footsteps of our American brethren to the south with foreclosure signs on every block. The article goes on to say that the Canadian average for people who are in arrears which means they are 90 days behind on their mortgage payments, is .4%. That's 4 tenths of one per cent. Alberta is almost twice as high at .7% . Based on these numbers Alberta appears to be in trouble. However, if you look farther back you will see that arrears at their lowest in Alberta were at .35% in 2006 and 2007. While this is twice that number it is still below 1%. It should also be noted that the difference between the national average of .4 and the Alberta average of .7 is only .3 or 1/3 of one per cent. Now let's compare that to the US. The latest numbers for Nevada are from the last quarter of 2011. In Nevada in Q1, 19% of households were in arrears. Here's a graph

showing Nevada's arrears This means that someone in Nevada is 27 times more likely that an Albertan to be in arrears. It's time for people including journalists to take a chill pill and not over react to numbers. We are okay. If you want to know more about Canada's arrears or get help with your mortgage you can contact CMHC or contact me