Industry & Market Highlights  Bank of Canada Benchmark Qualifying Rate Effective July 22, 2019, the Bank of Canada 5-year Benchmark Qualifying Rate is 5.19%. What you need to know The qualifying rate legislation was created to ease customer affordability in the event renewal interest rates are higher than the rate received at origination. The Bank of Canada […]

Industry & Market Highlights \ CMHC’s First-Time Home Buyer Incentive Falls Short of Expectations The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation held an official announcement yesterday to release details of its First-Time Home Buyer Incentive (FTHBI). While officials reiterated how this shared-equity program will help young middle-class Canadian buyers, there were scant new details beyond what […]

Industry & Market Highlights  Rate hike disappears over the horizon The likelihood of a Bank of Canada interest rate increase appears to be getting pushed further and further beyond the horizon. The Bank is expected to remain on the sidelines again this week when it makes its scheduled rate announcement on Wednesday. A recent survey […]

Industry & Market Highlights  Federal budget’s housing measures miss the mark Incentives in the federal budget for first-time homebuyers crippled by soaring housing costs could worsen affordability woes. “It’s all about increasing demand for housing without doing much to increase supply, and you don’t need to be an economist to know that if you increase […]

London Mortgage Broker – Market Update Industry & Market Highlights  Liberal Government Woes & Housing    After two years of continuous rule changes reducing home owners purchasing power, creating a massive affordability gap, and stealing the future wealth from first time homeowners now unable to purchase their first home – the new Federal budget includes […]

Industry & Market Highlights  The next move: no move for BoC The next rate setting by the Bank of Canada will be on March 6th and market watchers are not expecting any change. Governor Stephen Poloz set a fairly dovish tone in his recent speech to the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal.  Poloz called […]

Industry & Market Highlights  Federal Policy Impacts on Canadian Housing Markets Housing markets across Canada slowed significantly in 2018 as a result of higher interest rates coupled with mortgage stress tests and other policy changes that have constrained homebuying. Mortgage Professionals Canada’s latest consumer research report, Annual State of the Residential Mortgage Market in Canada, […]

Industry & Market Highlights  CMHC The Bank of Canada left the overnight benchmark policy rate at 1-3/4%, as expected. In another dovish statement, the Bank of Canada acknowledged a slowdown in global economic activity and highlighted that oil prices are roughly 25% lower than what they had assumed in the October Monetary Policy Report (MPR). […]