24 Oct

These are Canada’s 10 priciest neighbourhoods

General

Posted by: Kimberly Walker

Vancouver West Side is the priciest neighbourhood in Canada on a price-per-square-foot basis, and the city dominates the top 10. A nationwide study by Century 21 reveals that Vancouver West Side has a PPSF of $1,201 with the city’s Downtown second at $962.75 and Toronto Downtown taking third place at $818.86. Metro Vancouver is home […]

Read More
24 Oct

Helping Children with A Down Payment

General

Posted by: Kimberly Walker

Although home prices in Toronto and Vancouver seem to have stabilized recently, they are still at historical levels. The average home price in these two major Canadian cities are still well over $1 Million. Unsurprisingly, first-time homebuyers are finding it increasingly difficult to get onto the “property ladder”. It is now harder than ever for […]

Read More
23 Oct

Why longer amortization may start trending

General

Posted by: Kimberly Walker

When the new tighter restrictions on mortgage lending come into effect in just over two months they could spark a new trend – longer amortizations. With OSFI’s stress test requiring borrowers of uninsured mortgages to prove they can afford payments 2% above their contract rate, fewer people will qualify. However, switching to a longer amortization […]

Read More
20 Oct

New mortgage changes decoded

General

Posted by: Kimberly Walker

This week, OSFI (Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions) announced that effective January 1, 2018 the new Residential Mortgage Underwriting Practices and Procedures (Guidelines B-20) will be applied to all Federally Regulated Lenders. Note that this currently does not apply to Provincially Regulated Lenders (Credit Unions) but it is possible they will abide by […]

Read More
19 Oct

Self-Employed? Here’s What You Need to Know About Mortgages

General

Posted by: Kimberly Walker

Why, why, why it is so challenging for entrepreneurs to obtain a mortgage in Canada? If you’re among the 2.7 million Canadians who are self-employed, regrettably your income is not as easy to document as someone who’s traditionally employed. Since 2008, mortgage regulations in Canada have made it more challenging for those who work for […]

Read More
19 Oct

Vancouver’s made it easier to get a housing permit

General

Posted by: Kimberly Walker

The process of getting a development permit in the City of Vancouver has improved over the past year and is expected to continue to do so. The city’s mayor says that efforts to speed up processing times for new permits have proved successful even as the City deals with a record level of development. Single-story […]

Read More
16 Oct

National home sales edge higher but down from a year ago

General

Posted by: Kimberly Walker

There was a slight increase in home sales in September compared to August but most markets were down from a year ago. Figures from the Canadian Real Estate Association show a 2.1% rise in sales through the MLS system month-over-month but sales were lower than September 2016 in three quarters of local markets. Activity was […]

Read More
16 Oct

Are you looking for a mortgage as if it were a commodity?

General

Posted by: Kimberly Walker

I’ve heard brokers say more than once that mortgages are a commodity, by definition a commodity is a basic good used in commerce that is interchangeable with other commodities of the same type. That doesn’t sound like mortgages to me. While the core product is always the same, money lent that is secured by real […]

Read More
12 Oct

OSFI stress test could harm lender competition says Fraser Institute

General

Posted by: Kimberly Walker

Another organisation has added its voice to those opposing OSFI proposals to introduce tougher lending restrictions for uninsured mortgages and warns it could harm competition in the mortgage industry. The Fraser Institute says that requiring a stress test with a margin of 2 percentage points above the agreed rate for those homebuyers with at least […]

Read More