Young homeowners see strong gains in their net worth: StatsCan

Canadian financial security

While those 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 another, separate 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.

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.

Young homeowners saw the biggest gains. 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 still increased, although significantly less – from $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.

Many young families are trying to build their wealth in other ways, given the economic challenges of that generation. 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 with a median of $350,000. The median in their RRSPs was $35,000, and the median in their TFSAs was $20,000.

The median net worth of Canadian families in 2023 was $519,700.

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Mortgage rate insecurity

Nearly four 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.

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 – or 35% – to $2,020. Among these, young families saw their median payments climb the most during this period, by 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.

Survey methodology

The SFS covers the population living in the 10 provinces of Canada (excluding Indigenous communities and collective dwellings). StatsCan notes the SFS is a sample survey and the sample size is insufficient to have a representative sample of economic families with very high wealth. This means measures like "the share of wealth held by the top 1%" will be understated in this data source.