OTTAWA – Canada’s first-time home buyers may have to shelve their dream house fantasies due to lending changes announced this week by the federal government, mortgage brokers say.
Ottawa moved this week to tighten mortgage lending rules that will limit the amount many Canadians can borrow to help ensure that when interest rates rise, they’ll still be able to make their payments.
Mortgage broker Frank Napolitano says that means the size of mortgage many buyers will be able to qualify for will be less once the rules take effect on Oct. 17.
“First-time homebuyers will probably have to probably scale down the type of home that they may have planned to buy,” said Napolitano, managing partner at Mortgage Brokers Ottawa.
Under the new rules, a stress test that had only applied to borrowers who opted for variable rate mortgages or fixed rate mortgages with terms less than five years will now be used for all home buyers with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
That means borrowers must be able to qualify for their mortgage using a higher interest rate than they will actually be paying on their mortgage.
The advertised special offer rates for a five-year fixed rate mortgage at Canada’s big banks are around 2.5 per cent. However, the Bank of Canada-posted rate used in the stress test is 4.64 per cent based on the posted rate at the big banks.
“You’re not paying more, but you’re going to be able to buy less house,” Napolitano said.
wait.”
New Mortgage Rules will affect first-time home buyers
