by Ana Costa | Nov 8, 2016 | Blog, Economy, Finance, Mortgage
Although the recent changes to mortgage qualification introduced by the government were intended to create stability in the Canadian housing market, the unintended consequences might have been to make the waters a little muddier. For the first time, it looks like...
by Ana Costa | Oct 3, 2016 | Announcements, Blog, Economy, Homeownership
This morning, Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced new housing measures, changes meant to alleviate risk in Canada’s current housing market. The measures include: Standardizing lending criteria for high- and low-ratio mortgages, including a mortgage stress...
by Ana Costa | Sep 20, 2016 | Blog, Economy, Mortgage
Before reading this you should be warned that the following content is pretty dry… like eating 8 saltine crackers without drinking water dry. If you need to go and get something to drink before proceeding, no worries, we will wait here. Take your time. The...
by Ana Costa | Sep 13, 2016 | Blog, Homeownership
In an article I recently published called “Is Now a Good Time to Buy?” we identified that interest rates are at all time Canadian lows and as it’s never been cheaper to borrow money, now is a good time to buy property. In no way was it being said...
by Ana Costa | Aug 30, 2016 | Blog, Economy, Homeownership
If you’re getting tired of all the media headlines claiming impending housing market and economic doom and gloom, you’re not alone. It seems every time you browse the news another US economist is predicting terrible things for Canada. Articles like this...
by Ana Costa | Jul 26, 2016 | Announcements, Blog, Homeownership
Although no firm changes have been announced regarding mortgage regulations, it looks like this might be the beginning of something. The following is correspondence shared by Mortgage Professionals Canada by email to the mortgage industry, it has been shared here for...
by Ana Costa | Jul 19, 2016 | Blog
VERICO’s Economic Consultant Michael Campbell has just released the Economic Update for Q3 2016, a VERICO Exclusive. “Brexit is important but it’s part of a much bigger story…The key to know is that the Brexit vote and the demise of the European union is driven by...
by Ana Costa | Jun 28, 2016 | Blog
Since at least 2008, there have been repeated bursts of commentary that there is a housing bubble in Canada. Those comments have generally assumed that rapid growth in house prices (or a rising ratio of house prices versus incomes or of house prices versus rents) is...
by Ana Costa | May 31, 2016 | Blog, CMHC
It’s been said that talking about the Canadian Housing Market is like talking about the weather in Canada. “How’s the weather in Canada today”? seems like a rather odd question, it all depends where you are! Similarly, the Canadian Mortgage and...
by Ana Costa | May 10, 2016 | Blog, Mortgage
Non-bank lenders rely heavily on securitization (selling mortgages to investors to raise money). They then lend that money out to new borrowers. This July, that’s about to get a whole lot more complicated…and costly. Big changes are afoot in the mortgage business, and...
