The Canadian mortgage landscape is about to be shaken up by some significant changes aiming to make home ownership more accessible to a wider range of buyers. Coming into effect on December 15, 2024, these new regulations will allow: While each of these changes impacts homebuyers differently, they collectively offer new opportunities for buyers to enter or move within the… Read More »
New Mortgage Refinance Program for Renovations to Add Secondary Suites
Starting January 15, 2025, the federal government has announced that existing homeowners will be able to refinance and borrow up to 90% of their property value through an insured mortgage, so long as the additional funds are used towards building out additional housing such as a carriage house or a secondary suite. Insured mortgages are those where a mortgage borrower… Read More »
No More Stress Testing for Uninsured Mortgage Switches
As of November 21, 2024, mortgage borrowers with uninsured mortgages will be allowed to switch their mortgage from one lender to another without having to qualify using the stress test higher interest rate (determined as the higher of the Bank of Canada’s five-year benchmark rate or their mortgage rate plus 2%). This change will make it easier for borrowers to… Read More »
August Inflation Lower than Expected
For the first time since February 2021, Canada’s inflation came in at 2% in August – exactly on target where the Bank of Canada wants it to be. That is a significant drop from July when it came in at 2.5%, and it’s also lower than most economists were expecting. The most significant factor in the drop was gasoline prices,… Read More »
Liberals Announce More CMHC Mortgage Insurance Changes Aimed to Help Buyers
In the first day of the fall session of parliament, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland announced the Liberals are planning to make further changes to CMHC high ratio mortgage insurance, effective December 15th. First, they will increase the maximum purchase price allowed for insured purchases from $1 million to $1.5 million. Second, they will allow First Time Home Buyers to… Read More »
Notice to Vacate Period Rolled Back from 4 to 3 Months
After some significant advocacy efforts by the BC Real Estate Association (BCREA) and the Canadian Mortgage Brokers Association (CMBA), the Notice to Vacate period is going to be reduced from 4 to 3 months effective August 21, 2024 for sellers of a rental property who are giving the notice to vacate on behalf of the buyers. For many years, the… Read More »
30 Year Amortizations for First Time Buyers Purchasing Newly Built Properties
Effective today (August 1, 2024), first time buyers of newly built homes can now choose a 30 year amortization on their high-ratio insured mortgages. Before, buyers were limited to a maximum amortization of 25 years. Choosing the longer amortization period reduces the mortgage’s minimum required monthly payments, and therefore allows borrowers to qualify for a higher mortgage amount under the… Read More »
BC Government 2024 Budget – Mortgage and Property Highlights
The BC government released their 2024 Budget which introduced a number of housing-related initiatives, including changes to property transfer tax exemptions and a new provincial property flipping tax. Transfer Tax Exemptions The threshold for property transfer tax exemption for first-time home buyers has been increased for residential properties from $500,000 to $835,000 as of April 1, 2024. The new rules… Read More »
Economic Forecast: Arguing the Case for a Rate Cut Coming this Summer
The Bank of Canada (BoC) will not offer any predictions about future rate cuts, for fear that investors and consumers will take any such talk as a green light to ramp up spending and work against the goal of reducing inflation. But that being said, here is our argument for why you might reasonably expect the BoC will start easing… Read More »
Economic Forecast: Upcoming Mortgage Renewals Will Slow the Economy
Last week, the CMHC published their fall 2023 edition of the Residential Mortgage Industry Reporthttps://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/blog/2023/rising-rates-homeowners-greatest-shocks-lie-ahead In it, the author Tania Bourassa-Ochoa draws from the CMHC’s national mortgage data to put specific figures to the coming wave of mortgage renewals in 2024 and 2025. In the first half of 2023 about 290,000 mortgages were renewed into the higher rates of today,… Read More »
