The net worth of Canadian households increased by $141.2 billion to $17.6 trillion in the first quarter of 2025, despite economic uncertainty and volatile markets, according to a Statistics Canada release Thursday.
While the pace of growth was slower than the 1% increase in the last quarter of 2024, it marked the sixth consecutive quarter of household net worth growth. The wealthiest quintile of households held over two-thirds (68.1%) of financial assets and 51.2% of real estate.
Households’ financial assets rose 0.9% in the first quarter to $10.9 trillion, despite weaker equity markets. It was the sixth consecutive quarter in which financial assets reached a record high. The S&P 500 Index shed 4.6% by the end of the first quarter after five straight quarters of growth.
The value of non-financial assets rose by $47.3 billion to $9.8 trillion, primarily due to higher residential real estate valuations. Offsetting some of the gains, household financial liabilities — composed mainly of mortgage and non-mortgage debt — increased by $13.7 billion (0.4%).
The seasonally adjusted household saving rate was 5.7%, down for the second consecutive quarter, as the rise in household spending (1%) outpaced disposable income gains (0.8%).
Households’ net acquisitions of mutual fund shares totalled $43.4 billion in the first quarter, following a record $73.5 billion inflow in the fourth quarter of 2024, driven mainly by reinvestments. At the same time, Canadian deposits saw net inflows of $7.6 billion, the slowest accumulation since the first quarter of 2021.
Household borrowing slowed to $34.5 billion in the first quarter, compared with $41.6 billion the quarter prior. The seasonally adjusted stock of household credit market debt — consisting of consumer credit, and mortgage and non-mortgage loans — continued to climb, rising 1.1% to $3.1 billion, with mortgages accounting for almost three-quarters of the total.
The ratio of household credit market debt to household disposable income increased for the second straight quarter, ticking up to 173.9%, as debt grew faster than income. There was $1.74 in credit market debt for every dollar of household disposable income.