According to an article in the Globe and Mail the CMHC is partnering with Genworth and US based Countrywide financial to offer innovative new insurance products in Canada:
The new insurance products offer coverage for a range of situations beyond the current batch of taxpayer based financial products that cover zero down and 40 year mortgage terms.
“The CMHC is proud to be able to offer these new products to help to fulfill our mandate of ensuring every Canadian can buy their own home” says Chuck U. Farley, VP of marketing “Where ever there are markets with affordability concerns the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation will be there to lend a hand.”
Along with the new products the CMHC will relax limitations further when it comes to down payments and mortgage approvals.
“Today’s sophisticated investors know that credit is the best way to acquire the ‘pride of ownership’ without paying in advance. This is an obvious improvement over the inefficient older style of ‘saving’ to pay for a major purchase. For this reason we will now permit down payments to be made on credit cards and we are excited to announce a new CMHC ‘buyers pride card’. These ‘scratch and win’ style cards will not only give buyers a chance to save on mortgage interest rate, they will also give buyers a chance to win loan approval without the the lengthy and demeaning traditional process of a credit check.”
Chuck U. Farley points out that this will be a positive boon to hot western housing markets where ‘unaffordability has reached record levels’.