Canadian families are wealthier than they were before but they are carrying a much higher debt load, a new report says.

The Statistics Canada reported Thursday that the Survey of Financial Security found the wealth of Canadian families increased substantially from 1999 to 2005.

The survey found that the median net worth of the nation's estimated 13.3 million "family units" amounted to about $148,400 in 2005.

This marked an increase of 23.2 per cent from 1999, after an adjustment for inflation.

The government agency defines the net worth of Canadians as the amount of money they would have if they liquidated their assets and paid off all their debts.

Total assets - including everything from stocks and bonds to principal residences -- amounted to almost $5.6 trillion, a little over 1.4 times the estimate in 1999.

The increase was due primarily to favourable economic conditions, a strong real-estate market and a rebound in the stock markets.

Debts

Though Canadian families were wealthier, they also owed more money.

Canadians had debts of about $760 billion in 2005, nearly 1.5 times higher than the level in 1999.

Three-quarters of this debt came in the form of mortgages, Statistics Canada reported.

The median value of mortgages on the principal residence amounted to $90,000 in 2005, up 17.5 per cent from $76,600 in 1999. Just over one-third, or 34 per cent, of all family units reported having this type of mortgage debt.

Lines of credit more than doubled and accounted for nine per cent of all debt, amounting to roughly $68 billion.

About 3.3 million families, or 24.9 per cent of the total reported holding a line of credit debt in 2005, up from only 15.4 cent six years before.

Meanwhile vehicle loans accounted for 6.1 per cent of all debt, credit card debts 3.4 per cent, and student loans 2.6 per cent.

The survey found that the median debt load for families rose 38 per cent to $44,500 from about $32,300 between 1999 and 2005.

On average, Canadians owed $13.52 for every $100 in assets in 2005. This marked an increase from 1999, when Canadians owed $13.06 for every $100 in assets.

This debt burden rose as high as $39.40 per $100 of assets for younger family units in which the major income recipient was under the age of 35.

Assets

The total value of assets, which includes everything from pensions to financial and non-financial holdings, rose 42.4 per cent between 1999 and 2005.

The main contributor was the increase in the market value of real estate, largely the result of price increases.

A significant change in the composition of assets during this six-year period was growth investments in real estate such as cottages, timeshares, rental properties and other commercial properties.

The collective amount in this type of real estate was $481 billion in 2005, roughly 1.8 times what it was in 1999, in constant 2005 dollars. This was by far the largest rate of growth of any asset type.

The second largest contributor to the total value of assets was private pension instruments, such as employer pension plans, registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs) and registered retirement income funds (RRIFs).

"The increase in this category was driven largely by sharp gains in the value of employer pension plans," the report said.

About 9.4 million families, or 70.6 per cent of the total, had some form of pension assets in 2005.

In total, pension assets peaked for families in which the major income recipient was aged between 55 and 64.

However, an estimated 3.9 million Canadian "family units," which makes up about 29 per cent of the total, had no private pension assets in 2005.

The survey also found the single most important asset for Canadians was their principal residence, which accounted for one-third of the $5.6-trillian total. Second came employer pension plans, which represented 18.5 per cent of all assets.

As of January 1, 2005, there were more than 15,000 registered pension plans in Canada covering 5.7 million members.

Membership has risen steadily since 1999, the report says, despite declining pension coverage because of a larger increase in the number of paid workers without registered pension plans.

The Survey of Financial Security, which covered about 5,300 responding families, was conducted between May and July 2005.