Survey of Financial Security, 2023
Released: 2024-10-29
$519,700
2023
New results from the 2023 cycle of the Survey of Financial Security (SFS) indicate that Canadians nearing retirement age (55 to 64 years) who have both a principal residence and an employer-sponsored pension plan have a median net worth that is about $1.4 million more than those who have neither.
The longstanding expectation is that families build up their assets and reduce their debts over their working years and spend down their assets during their retirement years. Canadian families with low net worth will be more likely to need to work longer, may need more government support, and may be at greater risk of poverty.
Looking at families whose major income earner was 55 to 64 years of age, those who owned their principal residence and had an employer-sponsored pension plan had a median net worth of $1.4 million in 2023. On the other hand, those who rented and who did not have an employer-sponsored pension plan had a median net worth of $11,900.
Findings from the 2023 cycle of the SFS released today provide a detailed, family-level picture of the asset and debt holdings of Canadians.
The Survey of Financial Security (SFS) covers the population living in the 10 provinces of Canada (excluding Indigenous communities and collective dwellings). The survey is designed to provide detailed information on assets and debts of families, showing important differences among groups of Canadians such as between older and younger groups and between provinces. In this way, the SFS contributes to important discussions of equity in areas such as pensions policy, homeownership, and financial debt. The SFS is a sample survey and the sample size is insufficient to have a representative sample of economic families with very high wealth. Therefore, measures like "the share of wealth held by the top 1%" will be understated in this data source.
While families approaching retirement with both a house and an employer-sponsored pension plan had the highest net worth, and those with neither had the lowest, families with only one of these two assets formed an intermediate group. Families who owned their principal residence but who did not have an employer-sponsored pension plan had a median net worth of $914,000 in 2023. At the same time, those who had an employer pension plan, but who did not own their principal residence, had a median net worth of $359,000.
Young families building their net worth through increasing housing values
Families where the highest income earner was under 35 years of age experienced the largest percent increase in their real median net worth from 2019 to 2023, up 179% during this period to $159,100.
The biggest gainers were young homeowners. The median net worth of younger families who owned their principal residence increased by $142,800 from 2019 to $457,100 in 2023.
Meanwhile, the median net worth of younger families without a principal residence increased by $26,700 from 2019 to $44,000 in 2023.
Among younger families, the lowest net worth group consisted of those without a principal residence or employer-sponsored pension plan. These families had a median net worth of $27,000, up from $10,500 in 2019.
An increasing share of young families are amassing wealth without owning their principal residence
Increasingly, with rising house prices shutting some families out of the housing market, and employer pension plans becoming less common, some young families are trying to build their wealth in other ways. Among young families who rented their principal residence and who had no employer pension plan, 15% had net worth greater than $150,000 in 2023, compared to 5% in 2019. Members of this group commonly held assets in real estate that was not their principal residence (median = $350,000); Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs) (median = $35,000); or Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs) (median = $20,000).
Rising interest rates impact some mortgage holders right away, while others await renewals at higher rates
Nearly 4 in 10 families (39%) held a mortgage in 2023, either for a home or for other real estate like a cottage or a rental income property. Median mortgage debt for mortgage holders was $205,000 in 2023, down from $219,500 in 2019.
During periods of rising interest rates, the risk of becoming financially vulnerable increases for families who have a mortgage. The risk is immediate for families with variable-rate mortgages.
In 2023, one-fifth of families that reported holding a mortgage on their principal residence, had a variable-rate mortgage, with a median interest rate of 5.7%. From 2019 to 2023, the median monthly payments made by variable-rate mortgage holders rose by over one-third (+35%) to $2,020. Among these, young families saw their median payments climb the most during this period (+82%), to $2,600 in 2023.
While the median mortgage rate for families with a fixed-rate mortgage was considerably lower at 3.0% in 2023, close to one-third of them (31%) were facing a mortgage term renewal by the end of 2024.
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Note to readers
The Survey of Financial Security estimates are based on probability samples and are therefore subject to sampling variability. As a result, estimates will show more variability than trends observed over longer time periods.
Canadian families include economic families of two or more persons, as well as persons not in an economic family.
Economic families are defined as families of two or more people living in the same dwelling, related by blood, marriage, common law or adoption.
Employer-sponsored pension plans are defined as registered pension plans which are arrangements by an employer or a union to provide pensions to retired employees in the form of periodic payments.
Net worth is the amount economic families and persons not in an economic family would have if they sold all of their assets and paid off all of their debts.
Non-senior families refer to families where the major income earner is under 65 years old.
Persons not in an economic family are unattached individuals who are living either alone or with others to whom they are unrelated.
Senior families are defined as families where the major income earner was 65 years of age or older.
Young families are defined as those where the major income earner in the family is under the age of 35.
Dollar estimates are expressed in 2023 constant dollars to factor in inflation and enable comparisons across time in real terms.
Products
The infographic "Assets, debts and net worth of Canadian families, 2023" is now available as part of the series Statistics Canada - Infographics (11-627-M).
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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