If you’re buying with less than 20% down, you’re a ‘high-risk’ borrower and you’re probably using CMHC insurance on your mortgage. New regulations are having a big impact on buyers in this zone with new CMHC mortgages dropping by 44%. Bullwhip29 pointed out this article in BIV:
Through the first half of 2017, CMHC-insured mortgages had dropped to 95,000, down from 118,000 in the first half of 2016.
In October 2016, the federal government began a stress test for approving all high-ratio insured mortgages with terms of five years or more. It required such borrowers to prove they can handle payments at the Bank of Canada’s posted five-year rate, which is about twice as high as the lowest lending rates available.
Read the full article here.
