The Latest in Mortgage News: CMHC to Review Investment Property Down Payments It’s no secret that the federal government is eyeing reforms to investment properties in an effort to help reel in runaway house prices. In a mandate letter sent from the Prime Minister in December, Housing Minister Ahmed Hussen was specifically directed to “review […]

Can You Qualify for a Mortgage While on Probation at Your Job? Last year, we noticed an increase in the number of mortgage applicants who are still on probation at their jobs. In the past, we tended to advise these clients to wait until their probation was completed, because lenders view them as a higher […]

2022 Housing and Interest Rate Forecasts For the second straight year—and in the face of an ongoing pandemic—the Canadian real estate market has continued to defy gravity. Projected figures for 2021 suggest home sales will end the year 21% higher than 2020 (to a total of 668,000 transactions), while home prices will end the year […]

2021 – Year in Review As we turn the page on yet another tumultuous year headlined by Covid and its emerging variants, we wanted to take a look back at some of the top mortgage-related stories of 2021 and how mortgage rates fared. Consumers grappled with rising prices in all aspects of the economy, including, […]

Minimum Qualifying Rate for Both Mortgage Stress Tests Left at 5.25% As part of its annual review of the stress test for uninsured mortgages, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions today confirmed the minimum qualifying rate will remain at 5.25%. That means borrowers making a down payment of 20% or more will need […]

The Bank of Canada’s Big Pivot on Inflation The Bank of Canada is finally coming around to the view that the rising cost of goods and services is perhaps not so transitory after all. The following is the key line from the Bank’s most recent Monetary Policy Report: “The recent increase in CPI inflation was […]

Home Prices Rose to a Record High in November The average price of a home in Canada reached a new all-time high in November as inventory levels remain near record lows. The average selling price in November was $720,854, up 19.6% year-over-year on an unadjusted basis, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association’s latest monthly report. […]

Bank of Canada Leaves Expectations For 2022 Rate Hikes Intact The Bank of Canada decided to keep its target for the overnight rate at 0.25%, in line with forecasts and to maintain its forward guidance, which sees a rise in the overnight rate sometime in the middle quarters of 2022. Until then, policymakers vowed to […]

Housing Demand Surges as Buyers Take Advantage of Low Rates While They Last Canada’s largest markets saw a surge in homebuying demand in November, driven in part by buyers trying to secure mortgages before next year’s expected interest rate hikes. That’s keeping upward pressure on home prices, according to the latest monthly reports from some […]

The Sea Change in Canadian Mortgage Insurance Few realize how dramatically Canada’s mortgage insurance market has changed. As any mortgage broker with a decade-plus of experience can tell you, borrowers are feeling this change in all too many ways. Consider the numbers. As of the first quarter of 2021, “only 35% of outstanding residential mortgages […]