Economy Archives - Kitchener Mortgages, Waterloo Mortgages, Cambridge Mortgages

CMHC Makes It Harder To Qualify For An Insured Mortgage

June 16, 2020

Once again, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) is tightening the criteria to get a mortgage with less than a 20% down payment. Any potential home buyer with less than a 20% down payment must purchase default insurance on their loan and have a minimum down payment of 5%. CMHC is a federal Crown Corporation that provides such default insurance. Its mandate is to help Canadians access affordable housing options. Providing mortgage insurance to home buyers is one of its main activities. Mortgage default insurance protects lenders in the event a borrower ever stopped making payments and defaulted on their mortgage loan–a very infrequent occurrence in Canada. There are private providers of default insurance as well–Genworth Financial Canada and Canada Guaranty. CMHC is the only insurer of mortgages for multi-unit residential properties, including large rental buildings, student housing and nursing and retirement homes. It is the largest provider of mortgage default insurance by far …
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Ontario Announces Additional Workplaces that Can Reopen

May 15, 2020

Additional seasonal, retail and household businesses must follow public health guidelines May 14, 2020 1:30 P.M. Office of the Premier Original Source: NEWSROOM ONTARIO TORONTO — Today, the Ontario government announced the retailers, seasonal businesses and health and community service providers who will be permitted to open or expand their services on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 at 12:01 a.m., provided that the general trend on health indicators continues to improve as part of the first stage of the government’s reopening framework. The workplaces opening as part this stage are well-positioned to put workplace safety measures in place and get more people back to work, while not overburdening public transit and other services. The government also announced additional seasonal services and activities will be permitted to open as early as Saturday May 16, 2020 at 12:01 a.m., in time for the Victoria Day long weekend, as key public health indicators continue …
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Retail stores can offer curbside pickup, delivery as of Monday

May 7, 2020

Original Source: Kitchener Today The provincial government is opening more of the economy. On Wednesday afternoon, the province announced that non-essential retail stores can open to offer curbside pickup and delivery, as of Monday, May 11. The stores are being asked to follow all the health and safety guidelines, in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “We haven’t been sitting on our hands. Whether it’s releasing our framework for reopening or putting in place the workplace safety guidelines needed to help businesses adapt to the new environment, we’ve been laying the groundwork for the safe, measured, and gradual reopening of our province,” said Premier Doug Ford. “As the trends improve, we can move forward with reopening more and more of our economy and getting people back to work.” he added. As early as Friday, garden centres and nurseries will be able to open for in-store payment and purchases, operating under the …
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Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA)

April 24, 2020

Federal Government Update Today, the Prime Minister announced that the federal government has reached an agreement in principle with all provinces and territories to implement the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) for small businesses. This program will lower rent by 75 per cent for small businesses that have been affected by COVID-19. The details that have been announced at this point are below. We will share more details about the CECRA as they become available. The CECRA program will provide forgivable loans to qualifying commercial property owners to cover 50 per cent of three monthly rent payments that are payable by eligible small business tenants who are experiencing financial hardship during April, May, and June. The loans will be forgiven if the mortgaged property owner agrees to reduce the eligible small business tenants’ rent by at least 75 per cent for the three corresponding months under a rent forgiveness agreement, which will …
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Home Sales and Listings Plunge in March as the Bank of Canada Steps Up Economic Support

April 15, 2020

Housing Market Another Victim of the Virus Data released this morning from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) showed national home sales fell 14.3% on a month-over-month (m-o-m) basis in March, the first national indication of the early impact of social isolation. The economic disruption and massive layoffs caused both buyers and sellers to increasingly retreat to the sidelines over the second half of the month.Transactions were down on a m-o-m basis in the vast majority of local markets last month. Among Canada’s largest markets, sales declined in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) (-20.8%), Montreal (-13.3%), Greater Vancouver (-2.9%), the Fraser Valley (-13.6%), Calgary (-26.3%), Edmonton (-13.2%), Winnipeg (-7.3%), Hamilton-Burlington (-24.9%) and Ottawa (-7.9%). Actual (not seasonally adjusted) sales activity was still running 7.8% above a quiet March in 2019, although that was a considerable slowdown compared to the y-o-y gain of close to 30% recorded in February. “March 2020 …
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Recent Mortgage News

March 31, 2020

CMHC commits additional $100bn to Insured Mortgage Purchase Program The agency expands its mortgage-buying program from the initial $50bn… Hundreds of thousands of homeowners seek mortgage payment deferral Canada’s big six banks report higher volumes of mortgage-related calls since relief plan was introduced…. A third of Canadians fear not meeting housing expenses due to COVID-19 Survey also says more than 40% lost their jobs or live with someone who has… Iqaluit condo owners see sharp rise in commercial insurance premiums Insurance companies being scared out of the city largely contributes to the increase…

Why Are Mortgage Rates Rising?

March 31, 2020

Over the past month, the Bank of Canada has lowered its overnight rate by a whopping 1.5 percentage points to a mere 0.25%. Many people expected mortgage rates to fall equivalently. The banks have reduced prime rates by the full 150 basis points (bps). But, since the second Bank of Canada rate cut on March 13, banks and other lenders have hiked mortgage rates for fixed- and variable-rate loans. That’s not what happens typically when the Bank cuts its overnight rate. But these are extraordinary times. The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted everything, shutting down the entire global economy and damaging business and consumer confidence. No one knows when it will end. This degree of uncertainty and the risk to our health is profoundly unnerving. Most businesses have ground to a halt, so unemployment has surged. Hourly workers and many of the self-employed have found themselves with no income for an …
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Relief on Credit Products and 6-Month Deferral for Mortgages

March 18, 2020

GOOD NEWS: An opportunity for releif on other credit products and a 6 month deferral for mortgages. Please contact your bank/lender directly for more information. View this post for bank/lender phone numbers.

Fed Cuts Overnight Rate One Percentage Point But Markets Plummet

March 16, 2020

In an unprecedented Sunday afternoon meeting, the US Federal Reserve cut their key policy rate by 100 basis points (bps) to a level of 0%-to-0.25% (see chart below). Also, the Committee announced increased access to the discount window where the Fed makes loans to banks. The Fed is the lender-of-last-resort and is signalling that it will provide liquidity wherever needed. As well, with interest rates already so low, the Fed is well aware that rate cuts can only do so much. Thus, they are returning to quantitative easing–the buying of large volumes of U.S. government Treasury bills and bonds as well as mortgage-backed securities (MBS), to inject liquidity into the financial system. The Treasury and US MBS markets are usually the deepest, most liquid markets in the world. But over the past two weeks, liquidity has dried up. Financial instability has risen sharply with the high level of volatility. Banks …
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Extraordinary Coordinated Policy Actions To Ease the Economic Impact of Pandemic In Canada

March 16, 2020

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would introduce a “significant” fiscal stimulus package, as part of a coordinated effort with other Group of Seven countries to counter the virus-driven global economic slowdown and calm markets. In an exceptional press conference held at 2 pm today, Finance Minister Morneau sat at the side of the Governor of the Bank of Canada, and the head of the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) to announce measures to soothe financial markets, boost confidence and support the Canadian economy. Only nine days after the Bank of Canada cut the overnight policy rate by 50 basis points to 1.25%, Governor Poloz announced another 50 bps reduction in the policy rate to a level of 0.75%. Here is the Bank of Canada’s official statement: “The Bank of Canada today lowered its target for the overnight rate by 50 basis points to ¾%. The Bank Rate is correspondingly …
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Category: Economy