45% of brokers procrastinate on re-licensing

It has come down to the wire for nearly half of Ontario’s 12,000 mortgage professionals – who, with only a month left on the clock, had yet to complete that do-or-die re-licensing course. “What can I say? That’s the industry” Joe Rosati, executive director for the Independent Mortgage Brokers Association of Ontario, told MortgageBrokerNews.ca.  “FSCO […]

Canada’s Top 50 Rental Markets

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.’s latest survey of Canada’s rental markets yields some surprising finds and some long-term winners. And, as Peter Mithamdiscovers, rental housing is a hot topic across Canada as house prices rise above what many people can afford, prompting first-time homebuyers to defer a purchase. Add in economic uncertainties, and both tenants and […]

Home ownership becoming more affordable despite rising debt

By Julian Beltrame OTTAWA—Despite ongoing concerns about household debt, home ownership is becoming more affordable in Canada, not less, says new research by the Royal Bank. RBC’s latest report says home affordability actually improved in the final months of 2011 for the second consecutive quarter, thanks to softening house prices and income gains. Owning a […]

Bank of Canada not seen hiking rates until Q2 2013: Reuters poll

By Jon Cook TORONTO (Reuters) – Sluggish domestic growth and uncertainty about the global economy will likely keep the Bank of Canada from raising rates until the second quarter of 2013, according to a Reuters survey. The Reuters poll of 42 economists and strategists released on Wednesday showed the median forecast for the next interest rate […]

The State of Stated Income

Canada has 2.67 million self-employed citizens, about 15% of the work force, says CAAMP. Due to how they report income and deduct expenses, these individuals are frequently reliant on stated income mortgages. A few weeks back, Bloomberg quoted Canada’s bank regulator, OSFI, as saying stated income mortgages “have some similarities to non-prime loans in the U.S.” Just weeks before that, CMHC announced limits on bulk mortgage insurance, which […]

BMO sends a warning to brokers

Brokers, consider yourselves warned, with a BMO exec laying out explicit plans to grow the number of mortgage specialists, needed to “take business” from competitors in a slowing market. “We’ve been … pretty clear about our objective, which is — we’ve been at 2 per cent mortgage growth for quite some time now and our […]

Report hints at why BMO went to 2.99%

New analyst reports are hinting at why BMO moved to offer that trendsetting 2.99 per cent rate, at the same time suggesting the offer may come back to bite it – and, indeed, the industry. The big bank trod out that historical interest rate early last month, kicking off three weeks of the unprecedented originations […]

Average Canadian’s consumer debt hits $25,960

The average consumer’s debt load climbed to a record high $25,960 at the end of 2011, although annual data from a credit bureau report released today suggests that the Canadian love affair with debt is waning. Consumer debt, which excludes mortgages, edged 1.4 per cent higher in the fourth quarter of 2011 from the previous […]

Mortgage fraud on the rise

MONTREAL — Consumer credit company Equifax uncovered roughly $400-million worth of mortgage fraud in Canada last year, an “eyeopening” number industry experts estimate represents only a fraction of the cheating taking place in the country’s real estate market. Atlanta-based Equifax says many financial institutions are tightening lending and, as a result, deceit in the property […]

Bank report reveals hottest investor markets

A new report on varying provincial fortunes hints at where to make that next real estate investment. Psst, there’s oil there. “Strength in the energy sector has rekindled in-migration and helped firm up the labour market,” writes economist Robert Kavcic, touching on Alberta in the new edition of the BMO Blue Book “With the recent […]

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