Canadian household net worth climbed in the second quarter of the year, pushed higher by gains in the stock market, while the ratio of debt to income posted its sharpest seasonally adjusted decline in nearly two years, Statistics Canada reported Friday.
The data agency said household net worth rose 2.9% on an unadjusted basis in the April-to-June period, crossing the 19 trillion Canadian dollar mark for the first time, equivalent to roughly US$13.735 trillion. The increase was largely attributed to gains in equity markets during the quarter.
At the same time, household liabilities — which consist mainly of mortgages and other consumer debt — rose 1.3% over the same period.
The closely watched measure of credit-market debt as a share of after-tax household income ticked up slightly on an unadjusted basis, reaching 175.06% in the second quarter. However, Statistics Canada noted that on a seasonally adjusted basis, the ratio actually fell to 176.4%, down from 178.6% in the prior quarter — the largest such drop since the third quarter of 2024. The agency said income grew at more than double the rate of debt during the period.
As a result of that shift, the debt-service ratio, which measures the burden of debt payments relative to income, also declined, falling to 14.52% in the second quarter.
Separate second-quarter GDP figures showed that after-tax household income increased due to higher wages and increased government transfers, which Statistics Canada linked to new measures aimed at helping Canadians cope with elevated food prices. The household savings rate also rose during the quarter.
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