National balance sheet and financial flow accounts, second quarter 2025
Released: 2025-09-11
$19.1 trillion
Second quarter 2025
0.1% 
(quarterly change)
$31.6 billion
Second quarter 2025
-$3.0 billion 
(quarterly change)
$17.9 trillion
Second quarter 2025
1.5%
(quarterly change)
14.41%
Second quarter 2025
0.04
(quarterly change)
Household net worth rises due to strength in equity markets
Canadian households were wealthier in the second quarter of 2025, as their net worth—the value of all assets minus all liabilities—increased by over a quarter of a trillion dollars (+$257.7 billion; +1.5%) to reach $17,877.1 billion, the seventh consecutive quarterly increase. This accumulation of wealth took place despite headwinds of global trade pressures and a weakening economy. However, these gains are likely not evenly distributed among households as the wealthiest (top 20% of the wealth distribution) hold almost 70% of financial assets and are therefore best positioned to benefit from investment income and valuation gains when markets perform well.
Households' financial assets increased 2.7% (+$291.1 billion) in the second quarter of 2025 to $11,224.5 billion, an acceleration from the first quarter, as equity markets proved to be resilient in the face of trade policy uncertainty and increased volatility. The S&P 500 Index posted a double-digit gain (+10.6%) following a decline in the first quarter. Meanwhile, the S&P/TSX Composite Index grew 7.8% in the second quarter, following subdued growth (+0.8%) in the first quarter. The value of residential real estate edged lower (-$3.3 billion) in the second quarter, putting downward pressure on the overall growth of non-financial assets (+0.1%).
Weighing against asset gains, household financial liabilities, composed primarily of mortgage and non-mortgage debt, increased $46.7 billion (+1.5%) in the second quarter of 2025.
Highlights
During the second quarter of 2025, the Canadian economy contracted 0.4% on a real and seasonally adjusted basis. This contraction was driven by a significant decline in the export of goods, as well as decreased business investment in machinery and equipment. These declines were tempered by a faster accumulation of business inventories, higher household spending, and lower imports of goods.
The Bank of Canada held the policy rate fixed at 2.75% in the second quarter, unchanged since March 2025, as they awaited more information on the impact of US trade policy, among other factors. Despite a more accommodating interest rate environment and an appreciating Canadian dollar, economic uncertainty persisted. Consumer expectations around fears of job losses remained elevated and the trade conflict resulted in increasingly cautious spending plans.
Households saved a smaller share of their disposable income in the second quarter as household consumption remained robust. With the lower saving rate, households slowed their investment in mutual funds while accumulating less currency and deposits than in prior quarters. An appetite for mortgage debt remained, although this has waned since the start of 2025, and the debt service ratio edged up after five straight quarterly declines.
Government borrowing was elevated in the second quarter, although federal government borrowing eased from the first quarter, as chartered banks acquired a record amount of federal government bonds in the second quarter. Meanwhile, Canada's net foreign asset position with the United States grew, while declining with the rest of the world.
Household saving rate dips as investment activities slow
The household saving rate (seasonally adjusted) fell to 5.0% in the second quarter of 2025, as the rise in household spending (+1.2%) outpaced sluggish growth in disposable income (+0.3%). Households' net acquisitions of mutual fund shares were a sizeable $28.5 billion in the second quarter; however, this followed a combined $118.3 billion inflow over the fourth quarter of 2024 and first quarter of 2025. Households added $10.7 billion in Canadian currency and deposits in the second quarter, the slowest build-up since the first quarter of 2021.
Residential real estate stabilizes
The value of residential real estate stood at $8,375.9 billion in the second quarter of 2025, nearly unchanged from the previous quarter, while the pace of resale activity slowed 2.0% on a seasonally adjusted basis. According to Statistics Canada's New Housing Price Index, new house prices have fallen 0.9% over the first six months of 2025. Since the first quarter of 2024, residential real estate has shed a relatively modest 0.3% in value. Owner's equity as a percentage of real estate dropped to 73.7% in the second quarter of 2025 from 75.0% in the second quarter of 2024, as the value of outstanding mortgages grew despite softening valuations.
Household borrowing slows once again
The pace of household credit market borrowing (seasonally adjusted) eased to $31.6 billion in the second quarter of 2025, the second consecutive quarterly slowdown. However, over the last four quarters, households have borrowed $142.9 billion in credit market debt, compared with $106.1 billion from the third quarter of 2023 to the second quarter of 2024.
Mortgage demand dropped to $24.6 billion in the second quarter of 2025, but this still represented the third-strongest quarter of mortgage borrowing since the beginning of 2023.
Demand for non-mortgage debt (including consumer credit) rose to $7.0 billion as consumer credit borrowing expanded in the second quarter of 2025.
Chart 1
Household credit market debt, seasonally adjusted flows
Household credit market debt outpaces income for the third straight quarter
The seasonally adjusted stock of household credit market debt (consumer credit, and mortgage and non-mortgage loans) climbed 1.0% to surpass $3.1 trillion in the second quarter of 2025, as mortgages continued to account for almost 75% of this total.
The ratio of household credit market debt as a proportion of household disposable income rose for the third consecutive quarter, up 1.1 percentage points to 174.9% in the second quarter as debt grew faster than income. In other words, there was $1.75 in credit market debt for every dollar of household disposable income in the second quarter, considerably lower than the record $1.86 in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Chart 2
Household credit market debt to household disposable income, seasonally adjusted
Household debt service ratio rises for the first time in six quarters
The household debt service ratio—measured as total obligated payments of principal and interest on credit market debt as a proportion of household disposable income—ticked up from 14.37% to 14.41% in the second quarter of 2025, following five consecutive quarterly declines. Mortgage interest payments rose 0.9% in the second quarter, while obligated principal payments were relatively unchanged from the previous quarter; this likely reflected some upward pressure on interest costs from mortgage renewals.
Chart 3
Household debt service ratio
Federal government borrowing slows, net acquisitions of federal bonds concentrated among chartered banks
The federal government's demand for funds—defined as the net issuance of treasuries and bonds and new borrowing less repayments of loans—was $36.7 billion in the second quarter of 2025, down from $44.3 billion in the first quarter. Borrowing was predominantly in the form of bonds with a net issuance of $23.9 billion in the second quarter, compared with $14.1 billion in treasuries. Notably, chartered banks recorded a significant acquisition of federal government bonds, the largest to date, following a then-record acquisition in the first quarter of 2025. The effective interest rate on federal government debt rose to 3.00% (annual rate) in the second quarter after easing for two consecutive quarters.
As for other levels of government, the second quarter saw the most significant demand for funds since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a high uptake of both short- and long-term financing and widespread borrowing across local and provincial governments.
The federal government's net financial liabilities as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) was 33.3% in the second quarter, while the ratio for other levels of government edged up to 16.3%. Total government gross debt per capita reached $97,178 in the second quarter; by comparison, nominal GDP per capita stood at $76,118.
Chart 4
Government net financial liabilities as a percentage of gross domestic product
Borrowing by private non-financial corporations remains elevated
Private non-financial corporations' demand for credit market debt was $43.9 billion in the second quarter of 2025, the fastest pace of borrowing since the fourth quarter of 2021 (+$73.7 billion). This second quarter borrowing was mostly in the form of non-mortgage loans (+$21.7 billion) and bond issuances (+$16.2 billion). In addition, after 13 consecutive quarters of listed share redemptions, private non-financial corporations recorded a small net share issuance (+$0.4 billion) in the second quarter of 2025.
Chart 5
Demand for funds by private non-financial corporations
Despite the elevated borrowing, the stock of private non-financial corporations' outstanding credit market debt edged up 0.3% to $2,265.2 billion in the second quarter as an appreciating Canadian dollar lowered the value of foreign-denominated debt; roughly two-fifths of outstanding debt securities are denominated in foreign currencies. Meanwhile, the ratio of private non-financial corporations' credit market debt to GDP edged down to 72.2% in the second quarter. At the same time, this sector's effective interest cost of debt continued to ease, falling to 3.56% (annual rate).
Chart 6
Domestic demand for funds by instrument
National net worth rises slightly
National net worth, the sum of national wealth and Canada's net foreign asset position, stood at $19,123.1 billion (+0.1%) at the end of the second quarter of 2025. The restrained growth was the result of a modest improvement in Canada's international investment position (+$42.8 billion) as Canada's international assets (+1.8%) outpaced international liabilities (+1.7%).
The total value of non-financial assets in Canada, also referred to as national wealth, dipped to $17,267.4 billion in the second quarter, following two consecutive quarterly increases. Over the last four quarters, national wealth has grown by 0.5%, partially due to a 57.6% increase in the value of inventories of gold and precious metals. Since the start of 2023, strong demand and rising prices for these commodities have more than doubled their share relative to total non-financial assets.
Chart 7
Change in national net worth by component
Focus on Canada and the United States: Corporate Debt
The corporate sector in Canada is comprised of numerous subsectors that cover both financial and non-financial activity. Private non-financial corporations represent a significant share of economic activity and produce trillions of dollars of goods and services. They also borrow money, in many cases to fund their operations, engage in acquisitions, and invest in capital to grow their businesses. These financing needs are largely met by two primary instruments: debt securities, such as bonds, that they can issue on capital markets; and loans, whereby financing can be obtained from a single lender or group of lenders.
Private non-financial corporations held nearly $2.3 trillion in credit market debt in 2025, comprised of debt securities ($0.8 trillion) and loans with third parties ($1.4 trillion). However, this level of financing cannot entirely be met through domestic sources. According to Securities statistics, of all outstanding non-financial corporate bonds in the second quarter, just over 40% were denominated in US dollars, roughly 1% in other foreign currencies and the remaining share (58%) in Canadian dollars. When considering the share of US holdings of all non-resident-held Canadian bonds, regardless of currency, the results were similar, with slightly over 40% held by US investors.
Loans, on the other hand, represent a greater share of overall credit market debt for private non-financial corporations. According to Statistics Canada's From-whom-to-whom data, private non-financial corporations in Canada mostly borrow from domestic sectors, primarily chartered banks. Overall, non-residents accounted for around one-tenth of lending to non-financial corporations in Canada in the second quarter of 2025. This includes lending through syndicated loans, where a consortium of banks can lend, typically larger amounts, and share risk. These groups can include a combination of both US and Canadian banks. The list below highlights notable lending sectors where private non-financial corporations are the debtors:
• Chartered banks: 60.4%
• Other domestic lenders: 14.7%
• Non-residents: 9.2%
• Credit unions and caisses populaires: 7.5%
• Financial corporations engaged in lending: 5.6%
• Governments: 2.6%
For more data and insights on areas touched by the socio-economic relationship between Canada and the United States, see the Focus on Canada and the United States webpage.
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Note to readers
Revisions
This release of the national balance sheet and financial flow accounts for the second quarter of 2025 includes revised estimates for the first quarter of 2025. These data incorporate new and revised data, as well as updated data on seasonal trends.
Data enhancements to the national balance sheet and financial flow accounts, such as the development of detailed counterparty information by sector, will be incorporated on an ongoing basis. To facilitate this initiative as well as others, it is necessary to extend the annual revision period (normally the previous three years) at the time of the third quarter release.
Details on recent revisions to the national balance sheet and financial flow accounts published in the third quarter of 2024 are available in "An overview of the revisions to the Financial and Wealth Accounts, 2020 to 2024."
General
Unless otherwise stated, growth rates represent the percentage change in the series from one quarter to the next; for instance, from the first quarter to the second quarter of 2025.
Unless otherwise stated, distributional information from the Distributions of Household Economic Accounts program is from the previous quarter. For this second quarter release of the national balance sheet and financial flow accounts, that would be the first quarter of 2025.
Unless otherwise stated, this release presents data unadjusted for seasonality.
Support measures by governments
Details on some of the more significant federal government COVID-19 pandemic support measures are available in table 36-10-0687: Federal government COVID-19 support measures in the System of Macroeconomic Accounts, quarterly.
Financial and wealth accounts on a from-whom-to-whom basis: Selected financial instruments
The data visualization product "Financial accounts on a from-whom-to-whom basis, selected financial instruments" has been updated with data from the first quarter to the second quarter of 2025. Additionally, the entire from-whom-to-whom data set can now be easily downloaded by navigating to the Notes tab and selecting the desired file under the Data heading.
Accounting for the impact of tariffs in the national balance sheet and financial flow accounts
The imposition of tariffs and counter-tariffs can impact the balance sheet and financial flows in varying ways. All else being equal, government revenues collected from counter-tariffs, net of reimbursements and remissions, would be reflected as net transactions in financial assets (i.e., increased deposit assets of government) or liabilities (i.e., reduction of debt). Uptake of government support programs, such as the Large Enterprise Tariff Loan facility, would result in the appearance of loan assets on the balance sheet of government and debt liabilities of the borrowing sector. Businesses may adjust their inventories, as shown on the balance sheet, in response to anticipated price changes. Tax relief granted in response to tariffs, such as deferred corporate income tax, would be reflected as increased liabilities for corporations (i.e., tax payable). Finally, market volatility resulting from uncertainty around tariffs may impact the market value of equity investments.
Impact of acquisitions
In the first quarter of 2025, two notable acquisitions took place. The first involved two entities in different institutional sectors, which resulted in a shift in economic ownership of assets (i.e., loans) and liabilities between the trust and mortgage loan sector and the chartered bank sector. The changes in the stock of financial assets and liabilities were reflected as other changes in assets/liabilities to distinguish them from transactions such as new lending. By comparison, the second acquisition involved two entities within the same sector, both chartered banks. However, entities may classify financial instruments differently, causing one asset type to increase and another to decrease post-acquisition. These changes are also treated as other changes in assets. Acquisitions such as these are routinely reflected within the Financial and Wealth Accounts.
Next release
Data on the national balance sheet and financial flow accounts for the third quarter of 2025 will be released on December 11.
Overview of the financial and wealth accounts
This release of the financial and wealth accounts comprises the national balance sheet accounts (NBSA), the financial flow accounts (FFA), and the other changes in assets account.
The NBSA are composed of the balance sheets of all sectors and subsectors of the economy. The main sectors are households, non-profit institutions serving households, financial corporations, non-financial corporations, government, and non-residents. The NBSA cover all national non-financial assets and all financial asset-liability claims outstanding in all sectors. To improve the interpretability of financial flows data, selected household borrowing series are available on a seasonally adjusted basis (table 38-10-0238-01). All other data are unadjusted for seasonal variation. For information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions.
The FFA articulate net lending or borrowing activity by sector by measuring financial transactions in the economy. The FFA arrive at a measure of net financial investment, which is the difference between transactions in financial assets and liabilities (for example, net purchases of securities less net issuances of securities). The FFA also provide the link between financial and non-financial activity in the economy, which ties estimates of saving and non-financial capital acquisition (for example, investment in new housing) to the underlying financial transactions.
While the FFA record changes in financial assets and liabilities between opening and closing balance sheets that are associated with transactions during the accounting period, the value of assets and liabilities held by an institution can also change for other reasons. These other types of changes, referred to as other economic flows, are recorded in the other changes in assets account.
There are two main components to this account. One is the other changes in the volume of assets account. This account includes changes in non-financial and financial assets and liabilities relating to the economic appearance and disappearance of assets, the effects of external events such as wars or catastrophes on the value of assets, and changes in the classification and structure of assets. The other main component is the revaluation account, showing holding gains or losses accruing to the owners of non-financial and financial assets and liabilities during the accounting period as a result of changes in market price valuations.
At present, only the aggregate other change in assets is available within the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts; no details are available on the different components.
Definitions concerning financial indicators can be found in "Financial indicators from the National Balance Sheet Accounts" and in the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts glossary.
Distributions of household economic accounts
The NBSA for the household sector is allocated across a number of socio-economic dimensions as part of the distributions of household economic accounts. Data on wealth and its components by income quintile, age group, generation and region are available in tables 36-10-0585-01, 36-10-0586-01, 36-10-0589-01, and 36-10-0590-01.
The methodology for Distributions of household economic accounts wealth estimates can be found in the article "Distributions of Household Economic Accounts, estimates of asset, liability and net worth distributions, 2010 to 2024, technical methodology and quality report."
Products
The document, "An overview of the revisions to the Financial and Wealth Accounts, 2020 to 2024," which is part of Latest Developments in the Canadian Economic Accounts (13-605-X), is available.
The data visualization product "Financial accounts on a from-whom-to-whom basis, selected financial instruments," which is part of Statistics Canada – Data Visualization Products (71-607-X), is now available.
As a complement to this release, you can also consult the data visualization product "Distributions of Household Economic Accounts, Wealth: Interactive tool," which is part of Statistics Canada – Data Visualization Products (71-607-X).
As a complement to this release, you can also consult the data visualization product "Securities statistics," which is part of Statistics Canada – Data Visualization Products (71-607-X).
The Economic accounts statistics portal, accessible from the Subjects module of the Statistics Canada website, features an up-to-date portrait of national and provincial economies and their structure.
The User Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-606-G) is available.
The Methodological Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-607-X) is available.
The Canada: Economic and Financial Data - International Monetary Fund's Special Data Dissemination Standard Plus product (13-608-X), "Other Financial Corporations Survey," also known as "Assets and liabilities of other financial corporations by sector, market value, quarterly" (table 36-10-0668-01), are available.
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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