One-third of Canadians (34%) say the prospect of rising home heating and gas costs will cause them to reduce their RRSP contributions this year, according to a poll released today by Investors Group.

All Canadians are feeling the squeeze, according to the poll conducted by Decima Research. For example, 25% of Canadians with incomes over $100,000 say they will reduce their RRSP contributions this year as a result of higher energy costs.

The group most impacted will be lower income Canadians. Of those households with incomes less than $40,000, 47% say they will reduce their RRSP contribution this year as a result.

The poll also found that the real estate “enthusiasm bubble” has yet to burst. Despite being five years into a record-breaking run in the real estate market, Canadians are still overwhelmingly positive about the ongoing growth potential, with 65% of those surveyed saying they believe their real estate assets will grow more in value than their other investments over the next 10 years. This is an increase from the 59% of Canadians who believed the same last year.

Historically, residential real estate values have not increased as fast as the TSX composite index index. In the most recent 10 year period for which statistics are available (1994 to 2004), the average residential real estate sale price increased an average of 4.3% per year according to the Canadian Real Estate Association while TSX returns have averaged over 10% per year.

While interest in real estate remains high, stock market awareness is low, according to the poll

“We have experienced two consecutive years of double-digit increases in the Toronto Stock Market index, but most Canadians have not noticed this surge,” said Debbie Ammeter, vp of advanced financial planning support at Investors Group.

“Only 39% of respondents correctly answered that the market has gone up this year. Financial planners will continue to face a familiar task as they remind Canadians that investing in a properly diversified equity portfolio is the best way to provide more stable growth in the long run.”

The survey found that 30 percent of Canadians think the stock market will go up over the next 12 months, the same number who expressed confidence in the market last year. Meanwhile, the number who believe the market will go down over that period has increased to 16% from 9% last year. Despite some growing negative sentiment, of those who plan to purchase an RRSP this year, the sizable majority of Canadians (68%) expect to contribute the same or more than last year.

The survey results are based on a Decima TeleVox national telephone survey conducted with a representative sample of 1,000 adult Canadians between October 27 and 31. A sample of this size will provide results that can be considered accurate for the population overall to within plus or minus 3.0%, 19 times out of 20.