Vancouver is still Canada's wealthiest city despite a huge drop in real estate values, according to a new study by Pitney Bowes.
Although house prices in Vancouver fell an average of 11 per cent in 2008, or nearly $57,000, the city's average household net worth was $592,851, still $30,000 greater than in its nearest rival, Toronto. Cities with high real estate values were ranked highest in the study, despite also having the most debt.
Calgary was hit hardest by the stock market crash, because it has the highest rate of stock ownership in Canada, at 14.4 per cent of households, and the highest average value of equity investments. Those investments, if they mirrored the decline in the TSX, shrank by nearly $30,000 in 2008 to just under $55,000, the study says.
