An accompanying chart in the CMHC presentation
showed that between 2010 and 2016 Canada's
household debt - to - GDP
level rose by more than five percentage points.
While the
level of income is important to enable buyers to make mortgage repayments and influences the size of the
debt and the purchase, the wealth required to make the down payment appears to be more important than income
levels, particularly in the transition from renting to home ownership.51 The RBA findings are consistent with other studies52 which have
shown that the constraints associated with wealth are a real barrier to young renter
households wishing to own their own home.