Most people can agree that the Canadian housing market is overextended—perhaps even a big bubble ready to burst.

But as Hedgeye Financials & Housing analyst Josh Steiner explains in the clip above, there is one critical factor contributing to that bubble that has flown under the radar in most reporting of the situation: the debt burden created on the Canadian consumer by home equity lines of credit.

“One of the problems this is producing is a growing number of Canadians who are basically at their wit’s end from a debt standpoint,” Steiner explains.

“You’re at about a multiple of about four-and-a-half X Canadian per capita HELOC debt in comparison to the U.S. In the last two years the number [of total consumer insolvencies] has been shooting higher.”

Watch the full clip above for more.

People Are Missing This Key Factor In Canada’s Housing Crisis - early look