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A couple years ago Vancouver became the first Canadian city with an average household net worth of more than $1 million, but this year three other cities have joined the millionaires club.
Toronto, Calgary, and Victoria have now joined Vancouver as cities full of millionaire households, according to a new report.
The new data comes courtesy of marketing and analytical services company Environics Analytics, who looked at average household net worth across Canada in 2016.
The net worth is defined as the value of liquid assets (cash or savings, for example), employer pension plans, and real estate, minus debt – including mortgage debt.
According to the report, household’s in British Columbia’s capital city of Victoria were estimated to have an average net worth of $1,055,468, an increase of 15.4% from last year.
Meanwhile, households in Canada’s largest city of Toronto now have an average net worth of $1,154,107, up 17% from last year.
For Calgary, which barely missed making the millionaires club list last year, household’s now have an average net worth of $1,039,607, a rise of 9% over last year.
“Strong performance in the stock market buoyed Canadian investments,” said Peter Miron, vice president of demographic and economic data at EA. “The biggest housing markets experienced strong real estate appreciation.”
“And many Canadians increased their saving rates. This is the wealthiest Canadians as a whole have ever been.”
Last year, Vancouver was the first Canadian city to be added to the Environics “millionaires club,” then with an average household net worth of $1,036,202.
This year, that figure rose a massive 19.4%, with Vancouver’s households now estimated to have an average net worth of $1,217,630.
And for the first time, British Columbia is now a “province of millionaires,” with an estimated average household net worth of $1,024,042.