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!

Obviously, we love this program for these 2 reasons:

1. You save between $100 and $200 per month on the mortgage payments. For sure. From Day 1.
   1. The point of the program is to lower your mortgage payments. When the government puts 5% down for you, it lowers the total balance outstanding and this lowers the payments.
2. You save about $4000 in the CMHC fees.
   1. You put down 5%, and the government matches 5% on existing homes. That means your CMHC fee is based on 10% down and not 5% down, and you save that from Day 1 as well.

The down side

The down side is this is registered as an interest free loan from the government. You still pay them back 5% of the sale price when you sell. That is 5% of whatever the sale price is so it could be more or less, but it is still 5%.

“The down side is not a big deal!

Guaranteed lower mortgage payments and lower CMHC fee! This is a win!”

Mortgage Mark Herman, Top Calgary Mortgage Broker near me.

FREE RESEARCH Data on the First Time Home Buyer Incentive from Mortgage Mark Herman.

• Call us for all the data you need on this program.
• We have it all and can explain it to you -it is a long, boring read.

Here is the link to the full article, pasted below https://www.canadianmortgagetrends.com/2020/02/cmhcs-first-time-home-buyer-incentive-off-slow-start/

Four months after its official launh, CMHC’s First-Time Home Buyer Incentive had funded just 4% of its three-year goal, according to new data provided by the agency.

From the time the down payment assistance program launched on Sept. 2 to Dec. 9, CMHC received just 3,252 applications from across Canada, 2,730 of which were approved. That translated into total funding of $51.3 million—well off pace of the agency’s three-year target of $1.25 billion.

Under the program, the government will provide first-time buyers with an interest-free down payment loan of up to 5% for resale purchases, and 10% if the property is a new build. The CMHC then participates in any rise or fall in value of the home, and the loan must be repaid either when the house is sold or within 25 years.

Interest in the program was highest in Quebec, where 1,300 applications were received. Comparatively, just 436 Ontarians applied, according to statistics that were tabled in Parliament last week.

Here’s a look at the breakdown of applications from some of the major housing markets across Canada:

• Greater Toronto Area: 148
• Vancouver: 45
• Edmonton: 447
• Calgary: 260
• Winnipeg: 144
• Montreal 654
• Halifax: 64
• New Brunswick: 60
• PEI: 12

CMHC head Evan Siddall defended the results via Twitter on Friday:

“In addition to CMHC’s challenges in estimating demand for the FTHBI, uneven lender support is a complicating factor,” he tweeted on Friday. “It may also be evidence that there is less unsatisfied FTHBI demand due to the stress test than people claim. People can always buy less expensive homes.

Why is the FTHBI Unpopular?

One of the biggest restrictions of the program is that it’s currently limited to purchases of up to $565,000. In markets like Toronto and Vancouver, buyers can be hard-pressed to find available properties under that threshold. According to recent data from the Toronto Real Estate Board, the average sale price in December was $837,788.

Many buyers have also expressed unease at the thought of giving up equity in their home, particularly with prices rising rapidly in many markets across the country.

While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised tweaks to the FTHBI during last year’s federal election, no additional updates have since been provided. The proposed changes would increase the maximum purchase price eligible under the program to $789,000 for buyers in Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria.

It remains to be seen whether the FTHBI’s slow start is a harbinger of future demand over the coming years, or whether first-time buyers will grow more receptive to sharing a chunk of their home equity with the government.