Tag Archive for: new mortgage rules

Rules, Rules, Rules

Here is the information regarding the new mortgage rules that will come into effect on April 19th of this year. The changes are not as bad as some were predicting. This is the summary, and the text is below.
Starting April 19th
1. Borrowers need to qualify using the 5 year fixed rate
2. Refinances maxed out at 90% LTV
3. 20% downpayment for mortgages tied to non-owner occupied properties bought for speculation.
Canada will bring in new mortgage rules to cool the country’s red-hot housing sector, but does not think the market has entered into bubble territory, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Tuesday.Concerned that new homebuyers may overextend themselves, the government said it is implementing three changes to mortgage rules that will help prevent the problems seen in other countries that helped trigger the global financial crisis.

“Today’s … Read more

Final Mortgage Insurance Guarantee Parameters.

On Friday, September 19, 2008 the Department of Finance issued its final mortgage insurance guarantee parameters and accompanying explanatory notes. The final guidelines follow the initial announcement on the financial guarantee for mortgage insurance providers issued July 9, 2008 by the Department of Finance. 

There are two noteworthy changes from the draft parameters:

1. Elimination of reference to a Total Debt Servicing (TDS) number, replaced by a principles based approach;
2. Reduction in minimum credit score to 600 from 620. Three percent “basket” for flexibility remains;

These modifications follow discussions with stakeholders, including CAAMP. CAAMP through its submission focused its comments on the minimum credit score and welcomes the decision by the Department of Finance to adjust the credit score.… Read more

Many Canadians oppose tougher mortgage rules!

The great National Post had an article today that said about 25% of Canadian’s polled do not agree with the federal goverment steping in and changing the mortgage rules. In case you have forgotten click here to see an earlier post. 

I have to mention that the poll was conducted by Angus Reid for ResMor Trust Company. Surprisingly 45% agree with the new rules, and when you factor in current renters, the support falls to 25%. This is the group that is affected the most by the new changes. As it takes away a lot of options for them when it comes time for them to look at get out of renting and buy a home.

Our fantastic government apparently thinks that we were too close to acting like our neighbors to the south. It is true we had a … Read more