Tag Archives: Mortgage Rules

New Barriers for First-time Home Buyers

It’s no secret that the residential real estate market relies on a steady stream of first-time home buyers. A constant and consistent demand from young buyers is what keeps housing prices from declining.

Unfortunately, new mortgage rules are making it harder for cash-strapped buyers to qualify for current real estate prices. In a logical economy, housing prices would have to drop in order for new home buyers to handle the restrictions. But as we all know, things are rarely rational when it comes to the economy. Continue reading →

Why You Need an Emergency Fund When Buying a Home

You wouldn’t go skydiving without a parachute, or walk across a tightrope without a safety net, yet thousands of people buy homes in Canada each year without an emergency fund safely tucked away in the bank. When you take out a mortgage with no savings, you’re flirting with disaster. An unexpected job loss, drop in income, home repair, medical situation or divorce could spring up out of nowhere, causing you irreversible financial strife. No one every expects this kind of misfortune, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t prepare for it. It’s always better to be safe than sorry, especially when it comes to your finances. A cushion of at least three months living expenses is just the start. Continue reading →

Loophole May Make Credit Unions the Better Mortgage Option

New mortgage guidelines aimed at Canada’s sizzling real estate market might not be as ironclad as Finance Minister Mark Carney may have hoped. That’s because credit unions, which are provincially regulated, are not under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI). This loophole may provide community credit unions with an important competitive advantage and borrowers with an attractive alternative to traditional lending sources. Continue reading →

HELOC Lending Limits On The Way?

Rumour has it that lending limits for home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) could be slashed come the end of this month. These moves, which relate to the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions’ new mortgage underwriting guidelines, will limit federally regulated lenders to limit all new HELOCs to 65 percent loan-to-value, down from the current rate of 80 percent.

Canada’s big banks are required to comply with new guideline by the end of the fiscal year – October 31, 2012. However many lenders are already planning changes to take effect in September.  Continue reading →

Are Two Addresses Better Than One?

Whether it’s a cottage in the Muskokas or a vacation home in Cabo, multiple homeownership is becoming more and more common among wealthy Canadians. Now, more than ever, Canadians are picking up secondary properties, many of them south of the border. While statistics are hard to come buy, numbers from the National Association of Realtors show that foreign buyers are having a big impact on the United States housing market… and many of these buyers are Canadian.

International buyers purchased roughly $82.5 billion worth of property in the U.S. in the year ending March 31, 2012, compared to $66 billion the previous year. Canadians are estimated to represent about a quarter of those buyers.  Continue reading →