Blogs

The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has announced 3 major changes to the way that mortgage applications for insured & insurable files will be assessed. If you are planning to buy a home with less than 20% of the purchase price as a down payment, these qualifying rules will affect you.

In the Housing section of Canada's federal budget released on March 19, 2019, the greatest emphasis is on the affordability of housing for first time home buyers. First, the straight-forward news: effective this year, the Home Buyers' Plan that allows Canadians to withdraw funds from their RRSP to buy a home will be increased to a limit of $35,000. If you've been diligent in using this saving product, it could work to your advantage when it's time for your down payment.

There has been a lot of speculation about the impact of foreign property ownership on real estate prices over the past couple of years. In joint research from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and Statistics Canada, we can finally see some numbers and what they mean for our local housing market.

The B.C. government's Home Owner Mortgage and Equity Partnership program, launching January 16, 2017, might seem almost too good to be true. The provincial government will match the down payment for eligible first-time home buyers to a maximum of 5% of the purchase price, up to a $750,000 property. This loan will be interest- and payment-free for the first five years.

Just when you thought mortgage rule changes were done for now, here comes another round.  While these ones are directed at mortgage insurers (CMHC, Genworth and Canada Guaranty) rather than borrowers, there's a strong chance that consumers will suffer collateral damage from these changes.

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), housing markets are expected to remain stable for the rest of the year, and housing starts are expected to moderate in 2015 and 2016.

Housing starts in Canada were down for the fifth consecutive month in February, according to the latest figures by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). Plunging to their weakest level since 2009, the drop has been partly blamed on severe winter weather conditions that nonetheless have added to fears that Canada’s post-recession housing boom will stall this year.