Statistics Canada releases several publications on a variety of topics. We find the ones related to demographics and financial data interesting because those two factors play a significant role in how real estate and mortgage originations play out in Canada. Here's a few of the things a recent report (from October 10, 2024) highlighted for readers:
Income inequality increases: The gap between Canada's highest and lowest income earners continues to grow. In the second quarter of 2024, the share of disposable income for the top 40% of households was 65.2%, and 18.2% for the bottom 40% of households. That's a record 47.0 percentage point gap, the largest since data collection began in 1999.
Impact of high interest rates: Persistently high interest rates have had varying impacts on household finances, with lower-income households struggling more due to limited resources for saving and investment.
Disposable income changes: The lowest income households saw above-average growth in disposable income due to strong wage growth. Middle-income households experienced negligible increases in income, and overall saw a decrease in their share of income due to higher interest payments.
Wealth gap widens: The wealthiest 20% of households held over two-thirds of Canada’s total net worth in the second quarter of 2024, with the wealth gap between the top 20% and bottom 40% increasing to 64.9 percentage points.
Mortgage debt trends: Younger households under 35 years have been reducing their mortgage debt, while older households have increased theirs despite higher interest rates and housing costs.
Debt-to-income ratio by age: Households with a major income earner aged 35 to 44 years had the highest debt-to-income ratio at 260.4% in the second quarter of 2024, although all age groups saw a decline in this ratio due to income gains.
The report has dozens of charts and tables that you may be able to use or share with clients. Access the report HERE.
The original article and the French version can be found on the StatsCan Website.