The current real estate boom has pushed the net worth of Canadians to a record high of $13.7 trillion.
The net worth of the nation’s households increased by $770 billion in the first three months of this year, a record 6% gain to $13.7 trillion, Statistics Canada said. Since the start of 2020, household net worth in Canada has risen by more than $2 trillion due to rising home prices.
On an annualized basis, household net worth rose 21.5% in the first quarter of 2021 from a year earlier, the largest gain on record going back to 1990. That’s more than triple the historical average of a 6.8% yearly gain.
Households that own their home accounted for almost all the net worth gains in the first quarter -- $730 billion. The wealth of renters was up $43 billion. That disparity also comes as rising home values make owning increasingly out of reach for many Canadians.
Households with an earner over age 55 had $1.1 million in net worth at the start of this year, versus $260,000 for households whose primary breadwinner was under age 35.
Canada’s national net worth, which includes government and corporate wealth, jumped by more than $1 trillion, reaching $15 trillion at the end of the first quarter.
