Immigrants earn more money and buy property more often than the Canadian-born, a new survey by Statistics Canada shows.
The most recent data released by Statistics Canada shows that immigrant families that have lived in Canada for more than two decades are richer than families of the Canadian-born.
Both immigrant families and families of the Canadian-born significantly increased their wealth between 1999 and 2016. Statistics Canada’s figures demonstrate the growth in the number of affluent immigrant families who have lived in Canada for more than 20 years. Their average annual income increased from C$625K in 1999 to C$1.06M in 2016 rising by 69% (C$435K). Canadian-born families earned less, but their income grew more rapidly increasing from C$519K to C$979K — by 88% (C$460K).
As statistics show, immigrant families are more keen to invest money into real estate compared with Canadian-born families (69% of the foreign-born population against 39% of the Canadian-born), but put aside less money for retirement (17% of foreigners against one-third of the Canadian-born).
Immigrants’ taste for property investment is tied to their willingness to borrow money. In 2016, the loan-to-income ratio in immigrant families stood at 2.17 compared to just 1.32 in Canadian-born families.
The survey shows that despite the fact the two groups have different levels of wealth, both are equally competent in the way they manage their finances. They do not use payday loans, do not withdraw money from registered retirement savings plans (RRSP), and pay their credit card debt on time.
“Most of the migrant motivation has to do with ‘I want my kids to be better off’,” says Jelena Zikic, an associate professor at York University’s school of human resource management. “There’s a fear of losing their ground in a new place, so they see [tangible investments] as a way to protect themselves.”
Generally speaking, the majority of immigrants typically become “model citizens” and successfully integrate into the Canadian economic system.