By Louise Egan OTTAWA — Canada’s government will make it tougher for many homebuyers to get mortgages this year as it grapples with an overheated property market, according to analysts in a Reuters poll, who also ruled out the prospect that prices could suddenly crash. Ten of 14 economists and strategists surveyed last week in […]

By Tim Shufelt Household debt accumulationThe Canadian household debt burden has climbed ever upward over the last 30 years. That trend generally held globally, amplifying in the years preceding the financial crisis. Unlike in the United States and the United Kingdom, Canada refrained from the worst of those “excesses,” and thus averted a good amount […]

By Peggy Mackenzie Paying off your mortgage early seems like great financial planning since you’re freeing up money that can be put towards savings. But discharging a mortgage early can mean a prepayment penalty because the bank loses money. If you had a two-year term and paid the mortgage in full after 16 months, the bank is […]

Nicolas Van Praet 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 […]

John Greenwood The numbers are staggering. At the end of last year the Canadian banks had $494.4-billion of insured mortgages on their books, guaranteed by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. Another piece of telling data: As of the end of September the CMHC had guarantees on $541-billion of outstanding home loans — roughly equivalent […]

Garry Marr Sales of existing homes kicked off the year with the largest decline in almost 18 months, something the real estate industry says is to be expected as the market moderates. The Canadian Real Estate Association said January sales dropped by 4.5% from December on a seasonally adjusted basis, the first monthly decline since […]

STEVE LADURANTAYE Globe and Mail Canada’s housing market has two good years ahead of it yet, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Monday, with low interest rates and a “moderately” expanding economy keeping price corrections at bay. The Crown corporation – which insures Canadian mortgages – has had a consistently rosier view of the market than many […]

STEVE LADURANTAYE The hot housing market that powered the country’s post-recession recovery is slowing to a crawl. The Canadian Real Estate Association said sales dropped and prices moderated in January, with the weakness spread among more than half of the country’s cities. Sales in Vancouver and Toronto slowed to a crawl, with few houses available […]

ROB CARRICK Give people enough line of credit and they’ll hang themselves with debt. The bad boy of borrowing products – that’s the line of credit. Recently, the federal government asked the banks to stop blithely handing out home-equity credit lines to people. In his new book The Wealthy Barber Returns, David Chilton writes that credit […]

Garry Marr Mortgage brokers are once again undercutting the banks and some are willing to buy down your rate — eating part of their commission in the process — to gain customers. Steep mortgage discounts from the major banks have all but disappeared from the market, leading mortgage brokers to make sacrifices for market share […]