CMHC changes come July 1

Outgoing Canadian Mortgage and Housing CEO Evan Siddall has rolled out changes to new applications for homeowner transactional and portfolio mortgage insurancewhich may impact your clients. Siddall said new measures that go live July 1, “will protect homebuyers, reduce government and taxpayer risk and support the stability of housing markets while curtailing excessive demand and unsustainable house price growth.”

 

Forecasts in CMHC's Housing Market Outlook released for Spring 2020 indicate that the average MLS® price will decline by 9% to 18% from its pre-COVID-19 levels before beginning to recover in the first half of 2021, reflecting the negative outlook for impacts on income and employment. Siddall said COVID-19 has exposed longstanding financial-market vulnerabilities, and "we must act now to protect the economic futures of Canadians."

 

Changes to CMHC mortgage insurance eligibility requirements as of July 1st:

 

 

Mortgage insurance is mandatory in Canada for loans with a down payment of less than 20 per cent. There are private insurers, but none (as of 06-16-2020) have publicly announced adoption of CMHC's new numbers.

 

CREA and other industry stakeholders continue to work with CMHC to advocate for support for home owners and those who wish to become home owners.