The survey, conducted every few years, shows that homeowner families whose main income earner was aged 55 to 64 and who received an employer pension had a median net worth of 1.4 million dollars in 2023. Renters without a retirement plan at that age group had a median net worth of $11,900.
Homeownership was the main difference maker, as those who owned their home but did not have a pension had a median net worth of $914,000, while those who had a pension but did not own a home had a median net worth of $359,000.
Data released Tuesday also shows Canadians across all income brackets are trying to get into real estate, said Dan Skiller, policy director at the economic inclusion nonprofit Social Capital Partners.
“The most striking numbers presented here relate solely to the growth of real estate as an asset class,” he said.
“So it’s clear that everyone has been getting signals about the importance of this, and I think that’s dysfunctional and has led to an unsustainable situation where real estate has become an essential stepping stone to actually having financial security in the Canada.
The situation in the report was similar for families whose main income earner was under the age of 35, since the median net worth of those who own their primary residence was $457,100, compared to $44,000 for those who do not. .
The gap for young families is even greater than at first glance, since Statistics Canada points out that of this $44,000 net worth, a growing amount is due to the fact that renters own real estate that is not theirs. main residence.
It noted that among renters without a pension, 15% had a net worth above $150,000 in 2023, up from 5% in 2019, due to a growing number of home buyers.
Overall, the survey found the median net worth of Canadian households was $519,700, up 57% from 2019, when it was last conducted.
Median household wealth under 35 was $159,100, up from $56,400 in 2019, while the 55 to 64 category was richest at $873,400, up from $797,000 four years earlier.
The survey involved a 45-minute questionnaire sent to a sample of nearly 40,000 households to provide a detailed view of what families own and their debts.
“This is really the only survey we have that allows the government to look at the complete financial picture of families,” Skiller said.
The survey, however, has a significant blind spot for Canada’s richest. Statistics Canada divides the survey into tiers to ensure various categories of households are represented, but the highest tier is Canada’s richest five percent, meaning anyone above about $2.4 million for the 2019 survey.
The large top tier means the top 1 percent and 0.1 percent are barely captured, Skiller said.
“What is not part of the investigation is to take a broader look at the Canadian economy and see whether the concentration of wealth in general is getting worse or better,” he said. he declared.
“And to my dismay, they can’t even attempt to answer that question, because they haven’t set up their investigation in such a way that they have even a good chance of bringing in a single billionaire or 100 millionaires to respond to the survey.”
The richest family in the 2012 version of the survey had a net worth of $23.7 million, and $27.3 million in the 2016 report, while Credit Suisse estimates there is more than 5,500 Canadians with a net worth of more than $50 million, including 120 with a net worth of more than $500 million, Skiller noted in an April report.
Statistics Canada said the share of wealth held by the top 1 per cent will be underestimated in this data source. Skilleter notes that the United States specifically sets a level for billionaires to ensure they are represented in its wealth survey results, which helps show economic inequality in that country.
Canada appears more equal based on the survey data, but that can be misleading.
Data from the 2019 survey was used to estimate that Canada’s richest 1 percent held approximately 13.7% of the wealth, and the top 0.1% held 2.8%. But by combining the survey with external data like the Forbes Rich List, the Parliamentary Budget Officer estimated that the top 1 percent owned 24.8 percent and the top 0.1 percent held 11 .2% of global wealth.
“We’re not even aware of how owning capital dramatically increases some people’s wealth,” Skilleter said.
“It would lead to a more frank conversation about the different ways public policy…could intervene and improve people’s lives.” »
This report by The Canadian Press was first published October 29, 2024.
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