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The head of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. has opened the door to the possibility of increasing the minimum down payment needed to buy a house, though a change is not currently on the table.

Evan Siddall, chief executive of CMHC, which advises Ottawa on housing, told an audience at the Bank of England Friday that raising the down payment for homeowners with loans backed by federal mortgage insurance, is an idea worth looking at.

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The conditions that we now observe in Canada concern us. Increased household borrowing could be jeopardizing our economic future

“Politicians are tempted to help first-time homebuyers enter the market, but low down payments may be part of the problem adding to affordability pressures and macro-economic vulnerabilities,” said Siddall, in the speech which was posted to the Crown corporation’s web site.

“The conditions that we now observe in Canada concern us. Increased household borrowing could be jeopardizing our economic future.”

The Canadian government reduced the minimum down payment from 10 per cent to five per cent for first-time home buyers, as a measure to boost the economy. The move was applied to all home buyers in 1998.