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The countdown is on to January 1st, when the latest mortgage rules from OSFI will come into effect! A recent survey by Re/Max found that over 40% of Canadians don't even know about the upcoming changes, and another 40% don't think – or aren't sure – that the new rules will affect them. At the same time, nearly half of Canadians are considering purchasing a home in the next five years. A home is the largest purchase most of us will make, so do you really want to go into that decision without all the facts?

The federal government has confirmed a new mortgage stress test that will come into effect on January 1, 2018. The new qualifying rules will apply to home buyers looking for an uninsurable or conventional mortgage. You will need to qualify on either the Bank of Canada benchmark rate (4.89% at time of writing, updated weekly) or your mortgage contract rate + 2% - whichever is higher. Currently, buyers in this situation only need to qualify at their contract rate.

No one likes change, especially future homeowners as the change relates to the mortgage rules.  Every time the rules change, they only seem to make it harder & harder for folks to qualify.  Well in my humble opinion, the latest change announced by the Finance Minister in December could have been more massive.

The Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced that for properties between $500,000 and $1 million, those of you getting an insured mortgage will now need to put more down—up to an additional 2.5% of the purchase price if you max out at the 1.0 million mark.