So a rise in wealth of 11 per cent (the average rise per year since 1996) is the equivalent of about 75 per cent of a year's income.
Only a tiny portion of that wealth is accessed – but even that tiny  6  BIS Review 7/2003  portion adds tangibly to the additional cash resources available to the household sector for other forms of investment or consumption. Over a number of years now, this has been an expansionary factor pushing along household spending in Australia.