It’s a been a while since CMHC mortgage lending rules have been ramped back to more historical levels.
After dabbling in American style 40 year zero down mortgages we decided that might not be the best idea. Unfortunately we never did get the American style locked in interest rate for the full duration of the loan.
So now we’re back to 25 year terms and it’s more difficult to get a loan if you’re self employed. A lot of loan applications that would have been approved a year or two ago are now being rejected.
So what affect has this had on the market so far?
Well apparently the sub-prime lending market in Canada has rocketed to a record level for one.
Capital Corp is a non-bank lender that has been operating since 1988. Their chief executive Eli Dadouch says there’s a lot of money out there for non-bank loans to higher risk borrowers.
He said there is no question it’s the top of the real estate cycle, so anybody lending out money has to be more careful today.
“People always want to deal with a bank, it’s the cheapest form of money,” he said. “When they come to us and people like us, it is because there is some type of story [behind why they can’t get credit]. It’s easy to lend money, the talent in this business is getting it back.”
Read the full article in the Financial Post.