The market value of fund assets rose by $221.3B year over year.

The market value of assets held by Canadian trusteed pension funds reached nearly $2.5 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2024, a year-over-year increase of $221.3 billion, Statistics Canada said.

The equities category contributed the most to the rise, with a dollar increase of $137.3 billion, or 16.4%. That was followed by bonds (up $36.1 billion, or 6.1%), infrastructure (up $21.5 billion, or 9.8%) and real estate (up $4.3 billion, or 11.7%). At the end of the fourth quarter, the five largest asset categories accounted for 93% of the total market value of assets. Other assets increased by $20.5 billion, or 11.7%.

Canadian trusteed pension funds posted a net income of $36.8 billion for the entire year of 2024, up 37.1% from a year earlier.

Total revenue increased 21.1% from the end of 2023 to $66.3 billion at the end of 2024. Expenditures were up 5.8% year over year to $29.6 billion at the end of the fourth quarter.

Overall, domestic assets rose $37.7 billion (4.2%) year over year, and foreign assets grew $159.4 billion (14.8%).

The total market value of domestic holdings rose to $943.4 billion at the end of the fourth quarter, an increase of 4.2% from the same time in the previous year.

All but two domestic asset categories grew in 2024. Bonds led by a growth of $30.3 billion (6.2%), followed by equities at $9.5 billion (5.4%) and infrastructure at $2.7 billion (5.5%). Meanwhile, real estate was down $4.5 billion (-3.8%), and short-term investments decreased by $287 million (-0.4%).

Similar to domestic assets, the value of most foreign asset categories rose in 2024. This was led by foreign equities at $127.7 billion (19.4%), followed by infrastructure at $18.8 billion (11%), real estate at $8.7 billion (6.2%) and bonds at $5.8 billion (5.8%). Short-term investments fell by $1.8 billion (-23.6%).