Households were wealthier in the first quarter of 2025, despite headwinds of economic uncertainty and volatile markets, as their net worth—the value of all assets minus all liabilities—increased $141.2 billion (+0.8%) to $17,599.8 billion. This marked a slowdown from the last quarter of 2024 when net worth expanded by 1.0%, but was also the sixth consecutive quarter of growth. However, as of the fourth quarter of 2024, the wealthiest 20% of households held over two-thirds of financial assets (68.1%) and over half of real estate (51.2%), reported Statistics Canada recently.
“Households’ financial assets increased 0.9% (+$97.4 billion) in the first quarter of 2025 to $10,920.4 billion despite weaker equity markets. This was the sixth consecutive quarter in which financial assets reached a record high even as trade policy uncertainty roiled markets,” said the federal agency.
“The S&P/TSX Composite Index grew a modest 0.8% after a strong second half in 2024. Meanwhile, following five consecutive quarters of growth, the S&P 500 Index shed 4.6% by the end of the first quarter of 2025. This decline deepened significantly in early April, after which markets began to regain lost ground through May. The value of non-financial assets rose for the second consecutive quarter to reach $9,777.6 billion in the first quarter, primarily due to higher residential real estate valuations (+$47.3 billion).
“Weighing against asset gains, household financial liabilities, composed primarily of mortgage and non-mortgage debt, increased $13.7 billion (+0.4%) in the first quarter of 2025.”
Statistics Canada said the household saving rate (seasonally adjusted) was down for a second consecutive quarter, declining to 5.7% in the first quarter of 2025, as the rise in household spending (+1.0%) outpaced disposable income gains (+0.8%). Households’ net acquisitions of mutual fund shares were $43.4 billion in the first quarter of 2025, following a record $73.5 billion inflow in the fourth quarter of 2024 that was driven by reinvestments. At the same time, Canadian deposits registered net inflows of $7.6 billion, the slowest build-up since the first quarter of 2021.
“In the first quarter of 2025, the pace of household credit market borrowing (seasonally adjusted) slowed to $34.5 billion, down from the fourth quarter of 2024 ($41.6 billion), which represented the fastest pace of borrowing since the second quarter of 2022. Mortgage demand fell slightly, from $30.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024 to $27.3 billion in the first quarter of 2025, but still represented the bulk of household borrowing in the first quarter. Meanwhile, demand for non-mortgage debt (including consumer credit) fell to $7.3 billion in the first quarter,” added Statistics Canada.
“The seasonally adjusted stock of household credit market debt (consumer credit, and mortgage and non-mortgage loans) continued to climb steadily, rising 1.1% to reach $3,072.3 billion in the first quarter of 2025, with mortgages accounting for almost 75% of the total.
“At the same time, the ratio of household credit market debt as a proportion of household disposable income increased for the second consecutive quarter, ticking up to 173.9% in the first quarter as debt grew faster than income. In other words, there was $1.74 in credit market debt for every dollar of household disposable income in the first quarter, but this was still well below the $1.79 registered at the outset of 2024.”
StatsCan said 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—held firm at 14.40% in the first quarter of 2025 as growth in disposable income kept pace with total debt payments, which helped to curtail aggregate debt servicing pressures.
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