According to the Vancouver Sun our market will be hit hardest by the new tighter mortgage rules for the CMHC:
The new rules will disproportionately affect first-time homebuyers and people who live in B.C., home to the country’s highest housing prices, said Tsur Somerville, director of the UBC Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate.
“The sense is, there are more first-time buyers in the Lower Mainland who have been using the 35-year mortgage,” he said in a phone interview. “Either those people have to come up with a slightly higher down payment, or they just can’t bid the same price on a house.”
The longer amortization periods have become popular among Canadians since they were introduced.
As of November, 30 per cent of all new mortgages in Canada had a 35-year amortization period, according to the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals. While B.C. numbers are not available, that percentage is undoubtedly higher here, Somerville said.
Ottawa discontinued the 40-year mortgage amortization and the zero down payment in October 2008, two years after the controversial features were introduced. About six per cent of existing mortgages have a 40-year amortization.
Read the full article over at the Vancouver Sun website where they also have a collection of photos comparing what you can get across canada for the average Vancouver house price and maps of where you’ll most likely run into bedbugs in the Metro area.
