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Blog by Linda M Linfoot

Minimum Down Payment Policy Changes for CMHC and Genworth Applications

December 30th, 2015
I wanted to provide you with some additional information about the recently announced down payment changes. As a reminder, on December 11th, 2015, the Government of Canada announced the minimum down payment requirement will be increased from 5% to 10% on the portion of a purchase price for a property that is above $500K but less than $1,000,000. Please refer to the following chart to determin ...

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Posted in Mortgage Information

Market Commentary - Dec 22, 2015

December 23rd, 2015
Market Commentary We have "lift-off". Despite months and months and months of anticipation, when the U.S. Fed finally pulled the trigger on a rate increase last week nobody really seemed to care very much. The quarter-point boost puts the benchmark rate in the U.S. at 0.5%. So now what? For us in Canada the implications are broad but not very deep. The most noticeable effect is on the val ...

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Posted in General

Market Commentary - Dec 15, 2015

December 15th, 2015
Market Commentary The federal government is taking three more steps along the road to reducing taxpayer exposure to potential risks in the housing market. The finance minister's announcement that bigger down payments will be needed for homes costing between $500,000 and $1 million got the most attention but it isn't the most significant change. The down payment tweak is seen as an effort to c ...
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Posted in General

UNDERSTANDING MORTGAGE PENALTIES

December 15th, 2015
UNDERSTANDING MORTGAGE PENALTIES Mortgage Penalties. They've become a hot topic recently. We know and accept that they are there, and we know that if we are to break our term - one will be charged. What many consumers don't know, is how those penalties are calculated - and how those calculations differ, according to your product, lender, and term. While most purchasers, and those refina ...

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Posted in Mortgage Information

Market Commentary - Dec 7, 2015

December 7th, 2015
Market Commentary Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has made another attempt to tally the level of foreign ownership in the country's real estate market. Unfortunately its latest Housing Market Insight report is fraught with the same deficiencies as the first one, a year ago. The report is limited to condominium ownership with the numbers being gathered from a survey of property manager ...
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Posted in Real Estate Information

Dept of Finance May Soon Mandate Higher Down Payments

December 2nd, 2015
By the end of January, the Department of Finance may recommend raising the minimum down payment to 10%. That’s what I’m hearing from a high-level lender source connected with the DoF, who declined to be identified. Policy-makers are reportedly considering a graduated scale based on either the home value or mortgage amount—something like this: • $0 to $500,000 requires at least 5% down • $501, ...
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Posted in Mortgage Information

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