Updates to CMHC First Time Buyer Incentive Program
In March the federal government unveiled changes to the budget that included an interesting opportunity for prospective first time home buyers through an enticing program that they called a “shared equity mortgage”. This program could see Canada’s housing agency (CMHC) kicking in up to 10% of the purchase price of a home if certain conditions are met, therefore bringing down the mortgage load and monthly payment for first time home buyers.
Completed 2% of all FTHBI mortgages in YYC
Are you looking for a Mortgage Broker who specializes in the FTHBI in Calgary? That would be us!
We have completed 6 of these deals in 2019. There was as total of 260. So that puts us at completing 2.5% of the entire Calgary market for this program. Interesting!
Why CoronaVirus = Lower Mortgage Rates
This link does a great job explaining why rates are coming down right now for mortgages.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/coronavirus-mortgage-rates-canada-1.5443071
Summary:
- Events that could cause a stock market crash tend to also cause a “flee to safety” and the 5-year Canadian Mortgage Bond is that safety net.
- When investors buy these bonds the demand goes up so the bonds pay less as everyone wants them.
- The lower cost of the bond means a lower interest rate on your mortgage
This should be a short term blip, so if you are buying a home take advantage of it quickly
TD adds interest on interest
TD is/ was the 1st and only bank to charge higher mortgage prime rate for their mortgages.
TD is now the 1st of the big banks to now charge interest on their late-interest-owed:
https://globalnews.ca/news/6451352/td-credit-cards-compound-interest/
UPDATE: NHBI Canada
Here is an UPDATE to the Canadian New First Time Home Buyer Incentive Program
A Calgary lawyer recently had an opportunity to review the program and attend a basic seminar. He said he would not recommend the “down payment equity share” program to a first time home buyer for the following reasons – BUT here are our replies … and the Program DOES make sense to do.
Prime Rate Cut; Dec 4, 2019
With the latest developments the Bank of Canada (BoC) has clear path to reduce the Prime rate from 3.95 to probably 3.70%
The Bank of Canada is feeling the pressure to get back into the game with a rate reduction and one obstacle has now been removed.
The bank held its rate the same for an 8th straight meeting on October 30th.
1M+ Buyers; When to Use a Broker
For the high-end buyers, we find most people have Private Wealth banks that can pretty much do anything … and we don’t win lots of deals for more than $1M+ unless it is a complicated deal.
If it is complicated, you have a private “general banker” trying to either “figure it out for the first time,” or remember how it works. Not the data a high-end buyer wants to rely on when structuring complicated trades in real estate.
Details of the FTHBI – First Time Home Buyer Incentive
The First-Time Home Buyer Incentive (FTHBI) officially starts on September 2, 2019. Introduced help first-time home buyers, the FTHBI will provide shared equity loans of 5% toward the down payment of a resale home, and 5% or 10% for newly-built homes.
History of Economic Bubbles
This is a most interesting info graphic
https://fortunly.com/infographics/historical-financial-bubbles-infographic/
Economic Bubbles: The History, Causes, and Effects
You don’t need to be an expert to understand what economic bubbles are and how they happen. The simplest definition is the rapid and unrealistic inflation of asset prices without any basis in the intrinsic value of the given asset.
Why you don’t want your mortgage at your main bank
The Big-5 banks do not love you, they love your money, and now they can “trap” you in their mortgages if you fail the Stress Test.
Highlights of the last post are below. The post from January is here: https://markherman.ca/how-the-big-5-banks-trap-you-in-their-mortgages/