...Credit Performance Remains Stable: Credit performance is expected to remain solid across all Canadian structured finance (SF) sectors in 2016, with ratings holding similarly stable. All sector (100%) rating outlooks are either stable or positive. Transactions issued in 2016 are expected to exhibit ratings stability across the SF sectors. Consumer Debt Reaching New Levels: High household leverage presents a notable risk to the Canadian economy. Canadian consumers are facing higher household debt burdens primarily tied to rapidly rising mortgage borrowing. Fitch Ratings highlights the risk from increasing ratio of debt to income, which reached a record high of 167% in 2015. Housing Valuation and Mortgage Debt on the Front Burner: Fitch views Canadian house prices as overvalued by more than 20% compared with long-term economic fundamentals. Prices grew over the past several years despite low levels of affordability and high household-debt-to-income ratios. Fitch believes Canada is well positioned...
