Canadians are getting richer.
When StatsCan compiles the household net worth figures, they do it for the entire country and do not offer a provincial or regional breakdown so we can’t get too specific on this one. But we do know that Canadian households are doing better and what the factors are driving the improvement.
When you look at them, it is reasonable to assume Saskatchewan is probably doing slightly better than the national average.
That’s because one of the big drags on household wealth nationally is falling house prices.
Given that’s not the case in this province, Saskatchewan’s rate of wealth accumulation is probably outpacing places like Toronto and Vancouver.
But what is helping nationally is the value of the stock market. Canadian equity holdings have been going up in value. The TSX rose nearly 30-percent last year, pushing up the value of mutual funds, individual stocks and pension accounts which hold these securities. Further, lower interest rates made it possible to increase savings because we were spending less to fund mortgage payments.
