House-hunting Canadians saw their buying power increase this week as the benchmark five-year mortgage rate reported by the Bank of Canada fell for the third time this year, easing a key stress test faced by borrowers.
The central bank said the rate fell to 4.79 per cent, after decreasing to 4.94 per cent in May and to 5.04 per cent in March.
James Laird, the co-founder of Ratehub.ca and president of CanWise, said Thursday the lower rates will be a win for some.

Mortgage rates could near a record low as experts expect the Bank of Canada to cut its five-year mark as soon as this week.
CIBC and BMO both cut their five-year mortgage rates by 15 basis points earlier this week to 4.79 per cent.

The Canadian Mortgage Brokers’ Association expects an imminent cut to the benchmark five-year rate, as well. The Bank of Canada is expected to reduce the benchmark qualifying rate from 4.94 per cent to 4.79 this week

Bank of Canada publishes its 2021 schedule for policy interest rate announcements and other major publications, makes change to effective date of rate decisions 

The Bank of Canada today published its 2021 schedule for policy interest rate announcements and the release of the quarterly Monetary Policy Report. It also reconfirmed the scheduled interest rate announcement dates for the remainder of this year.

In addition, the Bank published its schedule for the release of the Business Outlook Survey and the Canadian Survey of Consumer Expectations.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Société canadienne d'hypothèques et de logement(SCHL)

We’re working with Genworth and Canada Guaranty to help homeowners financially impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak.
We’ve increased our flexibilities to allow payment deferral of up to 6 months starting now.
Tools available include:
• Deferral of payment
• Re-amortization of the loan
• Capitalization of outstanding interest arrears and other eligible expenses

Canadians hoping to nab a cheaper mortgage may be setting themselves up for disappointment, according to one mortgage market expert. 

The Bank of Canada today lowered its target for the overnight rate by 50 basis points to 1 ¼ percent. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 1 ½ percent and the deposit rate is 1 percent.

When it comes to mortgages, a government survey finds most Canadians don’t know their terms from their amortizations

The directive from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Finance Minister Bill Morneau on Friday was short and sweet: “Review and consider recommendations from financial agencies related to making the borrower stress test more dynamic.” 

An expert panel looking into money laundering in B.C.’s real estate market has found an estimated $5 billion in “dirty money” was laundered through the province’s housing market in 2018.
The panel found that illegal activity contributed to increasing the cost of buying a home in the province by at least five per cent.

VERICO NVEST+ spring training and 2018 Awards.

I was lucky to earn the Executive Club Award!
Thank you to my clients, friends and business partners!

Details have been few and far between on the government’s new First-Time Home Buyers Incentive (FTHBI) since it was announced in last month’s budget. But CMHC has finally provided a little more clarification.

Hoping for minor tweaks to the mortgage stress test, the Liberal government’s 2019 budget instead left many in the industry underwhelmed and with more questions than answers.

Can’t afford to buy a house? The government may take on part of the cost.

We enjoyed a wonderful evening at ALE - Amberwood Lounge & Eatery last night bestowing our team with some well-deserved awards for their fantastic performance in 2018.