Latest Mortgage Stats

Latest Mortgage Stats | 2018

Marci • May 2, 2018

There have been a number of reports released over the past few weeks that have provided some interesting insight into the state of the housing and mortgage markets.

New reports have touched on everything from 2018 renewal rates, foreign buyer statistics and credit quality to the latest financial crunch facing condo investors.

Here are some of the highlights:

Nearly 50% of Existing Mortgages to Renew in 2018

An estimated 47% of existing mortgages are expected to be coming up for renewal this year, according to a recent CIBC Capital Markets report. That’s up significantly from the 25% to 35% that typically come up for renewal each year.

“Over the past two to three years, as home prices have risen unchecked, you’ve had people trying to get into the housing market unable to afford longer-term mortgages and taken out short-term mortgages,” Ian Pollick, CIBC’s executive director and head of North American Rates Strategy, explained in an interview with Canadian Press. “And in 2018, everything is falling on top of one another.”

With higher interest rates today and stricter mortgage qualification rules in place, many existing homeowners could be in for a rate shock at renewal time.

The stress test on uninsured mortgages introduced as part of the new B-20 guidelines applies not only to new buyers, but also existing buyers who decide to leave their current lender, perhaps in search of a cheaper rate elsewhere. For the estimated 1-in-6 renewers who won’t able to qualify at the Bank of Canada’s benchmark 5-year posted rate, they will have no choice but to remain with their current lender and likely settle for a less competitive rate.

TD, RBC Hike Fixed Rates

Earlier this week TD Bank raised its 5-year posted rate by 45 bps to 5.59%, the highest it’s been since 2011.

It also raised posted rates for its 2-year, 3-year, 6-year and 7-year terms.

And just today, RBC confirmed to BNN that it will also be raising its fixed rates, effective April 30. The bank said it will hike its 5-year and 10-year rates by 20 basis points, its 1-year and 4-year fixed rates by 15 basis points, and that it will lower its variable closed mortgage rate 15 basis points.

One more of the Big 6 banks is expected to make a move in the coming week.

Despite the increases to the posted rates, most bank customers with sound credit are offered rates that are more competitive. The average 5-year fixed rate available from the Big 5 banks in March (to well-qualified borrowers) was 3.39%, according to RateSpy.com.

Foreign-Buyer Home Sales Drop in Toronto

The number of foreign-buyer home purchases in Toronto has fallen to 2.5%, according to Ontario’s Finance Ministry.

That’s down from a peak of 7.5% in May 2017, just after the introduction of the province’s 15% tax on homes sold to international buyers. Across the Greater Golden Horseshoe, which encompasses a larger geographic area around Toronto, foreign buyer sales have fallen to 1.6%, down from 4.7% the month after the new tax was introduced. However, even in areas where the tax does not apply — outside of the Greater Golden Horseshoe — sales to international buyers was also down, from 2.6% of all transactions last spring to 1.7%.

In a statement, Finance Minister Charles Sousa declared the foreign buyers tax a success: “Our data continues to indicate that our Fair Housing Plan measures have helped to calm the housing market.”

The average price of a house in the Greater Toronto Area has fallen about 14%, from $920,000 last spring to $785,000 in March 2018.

Toronto Condo Investors Subsidizing Tenants

Investing in condos is big business in Toronto, as investors accounted for nearly half of all new condo sales in the Greater Toronto Area last year.

But with rising real estate prices, it has become increasingly difficult for those investors to cover their expenses with rent. At least 44% of those who took possession in 2017 and have a mortgage are in a negative cash flow position, according to a CIBC Capital Markets report.

Of those, 34.5% reported rental income that falls short of their monthly carrying costs by $1,000 each month, while 20.1% say they are short by $500–$1,000 a month.

The report’s authors estimate that for units that were pre-sold and that are due for completion by 2021, rent would need to rise 17% to cover costs based on a 20% down payment and no rise in interest rates. If interest rates were to increase by 100 bps, rent would need to increase by 28%, they wrote.

Vancouver’s Empty-Homes Tax to Generate $30M

Vancouver’s tax on empty homes is expected to generate $30 million in revenue in its first year, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said this week.

The tax — the first of its kind in Canada — requires homeowners who don’t live in or rent out their properties to pay a 1% tax based on the assessed value of their home.

Robertson announced that $17 million had already been collected from approximately 1,200 owners with properties that were deemed vacant or underutilized for at least six months of the year. That’s just a small percentage of the total 8,500 city properties that officials say fall under the designation, however.

More than 5,000 homeowners have received exemptions from the tax, another 1,000 are currently disputing it and others failed to make any declaration about their properties.

Of the 1,200 property owners who paid the tax, some were billed as much as $250,000 for the 2018 tax year, according to a Globe and Mail article.

This article was written by Steve Huebl and originally appeared on Canadian Mortgage Trends on April 27th 2018, Canadian Mortgage Trends is a publication of Mortgage Professionals Canada.

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Alternative Lending Provides You With Options

By Marci Deane • February 19, 2025

Alternative lending refers to any lending practices that fall outside the normal banking channels. Alternative lenders think outside the box and offer solutions to Canadians who wouldn’t otherwise qualify for traditional mortgage financing. In an ideal world, we’d all qualify for the best mortgage terms available. However, this isn’t the case. Securing the most favourable terms depends on your financial situation. Here are a few circumstances where alternative lending might make sense for you. Damaged Credit Bad credit doesn’t disqualify you from mortgage financing. Many alternative lenders look at the strength of your employment, income, and your downpayment or equity to offer you mortgage financing. Credit is important, but it’s not everything, especially if there is a reasonable explanation for the damaged credit. When dealing with alternative lending, the interest rates will be a little higher than traditional mortgage financing. But if the choice is between buying a property or not, or getting a mortgage or not, having options is a good thing. Alternative lenders provide you with mortgage options. That’s what they do best. So, if you have damaged credit, consider using an alternative lender to provide you with a short-term mortgage option. This will give you time to establish better credit and secure a mortgage with more favourable terms. Use an alternative lender to bridge that gap! Self-Employment If you run your own business, you most likely have considerable write-offs that make sense for tax planning reasons but don’t do so much for your verifiable income. Traditional lenders want to see verifiable income; alternative lenders can be considerably more understanding and offer competitive products. As interest rates on alternative lending aren’t that far from traditional lending, alternative lending has become the home for most serious self-employed Canadians. While you might pay a little more in interest, oftentimes, that money is saved through corporate structuring and efficient tax planning. Non-traditional income Welcome to the new frontier of earning an income. If you make money through non-traditional employment like Airbnb, tips, commissions, Uber, or Uber eats, alternative lending is more likely to be flexible to your needs. Most traditional lenders want to see a minimum of two years of established income before considering income on a mortgage application. Not always so with alternative lenders, depending on the strength of your overall application. Expanded Debt-Service Ratios With the government stress test significantly lessening Canadians' ability to borrow, the alternative lender channel allows expanded debt-service ratios. This can help finance the more expensive and suitable property for responsible individuals. Traditional lending restricts your GDS and TDS ratios to 35/42 or 39/44, depending on your credit score. However, alternative lenders, depending on the loan-to-value ratio, can be considerably more flexible. The more money you have as a downpayment, the more you’re able to borrow and expand those debt-service guidelines. It’s not the wild west, but it’s certainly more flexible. Connect anytime Alternative lending can be a great solution if your financial situation isn’t all that straightforward. The goal of alternative lending is to provide you with options. You can only access alternative lending through the mortgage broker channel. Please connect anytime if you’d like to discuss mortgage financing and what alternative lending products might suit your needs; it would be a pleasure to work with you.

Benefits of Working with an Independent Mortgage Professional

By Marci Deane • February 12, 2025

If you need a mortgage, working with an independent mortgage professional will save you money and provide you with better options than dealing with a single financial institution. And if that is the only sentence you read in this entire article, you already know all you need to know. However, if you’d like to dig a little deeper, here are some reasons that outline why working with an independent mortgage professional is in your best interest. The best mortgage is the one that costs you the least over the long term. An independent mortgage professional can help you achieve this. Mortgages aren’t created equally. Oftentimes slick marketing leads us to believe the lowest “sticker price” is the best value. So when it comes to mortgage financing, you might assume the mortgage with the lowest rate is the best option. This isn’t always the case. When considering a mortgage, your goal should be to find the mortgage that will cost you the least amount of money over the total length of the mortgage. There are many factors to consider, such as your specific financial situation, the rate, initial term length, fixed or variable rate structure, amortization, and the penalties incurred should you need to break your mortgage early; the fine print matters. An independent mortgage professional can walk through all these factors with you and will help you find the mortgage that best suits your needs. Sometimes taking a mortgage with a slightly higher rate can make sense if it gives you flexibility down the line or helps you avoid huge payout penalties. Working the numbers with an independent mortgage professional will save you money in the long run instead of just going with what a single lender is offering. Save time by letting an independent mortgage professional find the best mortgage product for you. Let's face it, getting a mortgage can be challenging enough on its own. Everyone’s financial situation is a little different and making sense of lender guidelines is a full-time job in itself. So instead of dealing with multiple lending institutions on your own, when you work with an independent mortgage professional, you submit a single mortgage application that is compared to the lending guidelines of various mortgage lenders. This will save you time as you don’t have to go from bank to bank to ensure you’re getting the best mortgage. Simply put, an independent mortgage professional works for you and has your best interest in mind, while a bank specialist works for the bank and has the bank's best interest in mind. It’s no secret that Canadian banks make a lot of money. It seems every quarter they turn billions of dollars in profit (despite the economic environment). They do this at the expense of their customers by charging as much interest as they can and structuring mortgages to their benefit. It’s all about the alignment of interest. Bank employees work for the bank; the bank pays them to make money for the bank. In contrast, independent mortgage professionals are provincially licensed to work for their clients and are paid a standardized placement or finder’s fee for matching borrowers with lenders. When you work with a single bank, you only have access to the products of that bank. When you work with an independent mortgage professional, you have access to all of the lenders that mortgage professionals have relationships with and all their products. Working with an independent mortgage professional will save you money, time, and provide you with better mortgage options. Plus, you have the added benefit of working with a licensed professional looking out for your best interest, providing you with the best possible advice. If you’d like to know more or to discuss mortgage financing, please connect anytime; it would be a pleasure to work with you.

How to Ensure a Smooth Home Purchase

By Marci Deane • February 5, 2025

Chances are, buying a home is one of the most important financial decisions you’ll make in your life. And as mortgage financing can be somewhat confusing at the best of times, to alleviate some of the stress and to ensure your home purchase goes as smoothly as possible, here are six very high-level steps you should follow. While it might seem like the best place to start the home buying process is to browse MLS on your phone and then contact a Realtor to go out and look at properties, it’s not. First, you’re going to want to work with a licensed independent mortgage professional. When you work with an independent mortgage professional, instead of working with a single bank, you’ll be working with someone who has your best interest in mind and can present you with mortgage options from several financial institutions. The second step in the home buying process is to put together a mortgage plan. Unless you have enough money in the bank to buy a home with cash, you’re going to need a mortgage. And as mortgage financing can be challenging and not so straightforward, the best time to start planning for a mortgage is right now. Don’t make another move until you discuss your financial situation with an independent mortgage professional. It’s never too early to start planning. As part of your mortgage plan, you’ll want to figure out what you can afford on paper, assess your credit score, run some financial scenarios, calculate mortgage payments, and have a clear picture of exactly how much money is required for a downpayment and closing costs. You’ll also be able to discuss which mortgage product is best for you, considering different mortgage terms, types, amortizations, and features. Now, what you qualify to borrow on paper doesn’t necessarily mean you can actually afford the payments in real life. You need to consider your lifestyle and what you spend your money on. Understanding your cash flow is the key. Make a budget to verify you can actually afford your proposed mortgage payments and that you have enough funds to close on the mortgage. No one wants to be house-poor or left scrambling to come up with funds to close at the last minute. If everything looks good at this point, the next step will be to get a preapproval in place. Now, a pre-approval is more than just typing some numbers into a form or online calculator; you need to complete a mortgage application and submit all the documents requested by your mortgage professional. Only proceed with looking at properties when you’ve been given the green light from your mortgage professional. When you’ve found a property to purchase, you’ll work very closely with your mortgage professional to arrange mortgage financing in a short period of time. This is where being prepared pays off. As you’ve already collected and submitted many documents upfront during the preapproval process, you should be set up for success. However, remain flexible and provide any additional documentation required by the lender to secure mortgage financing. Once you have firm lender approval and you’ve removed conditions on the purchase agreement, don’t change anything about your financial situation until you have the keys. Don’t quit your job, don’t take out a new loan, or don’t make a large withdrawal from your bank account. Put your life into a holding pattern until you take possession of your new home. So there you have it, six steps to ensuring a smooth home purchase: Work with an independent mortgage professional. Put together a mortgage plan. Figure out what you can actually afford. Get a pre-approval. Provide the necessary documentation. Don’t change anything about your financial situation until you take possession. If you’d like to discuss your personal financial situation and find the best mortgage product for you, let’s work together. We can figure out a plan to buy a home as stress-free as possible. Please connect anytime; it would be a pleasure to work with you.