Compared to the chilling regulatory news of 2018 (i.e., the launch of OSFI’s mortgage stress test), this was a year of turnarounds in the mortgage market. For one thing, the year ended with palpable optimism in the housing sector. It was a degree of bullish sentiment that many didn’t think we’d see when 2019 began. Below we recap that and...

Drain your RRSP further to buy a new home. That’s what the government is encouraging with its newly increased RRSP Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP) limit, which just rose from $25,000 to $35,000. You’ll probably draw your own conclusion as to whether that’s a good idea. We support it in limited cases, with caution. In fact, yours truly used it to...

After all the build-up, Canada’s federal budget is finally here. There was no easing to maximum mortgage amortizations or the mortgage stress test, as some had expected. What the government did was throw Canadian mortgage shoppers two bones, with lots of strings attached. Here’s a detailed look at two of the ways the Liberal government proposes to “ease” housing affordability....