Canadian mortgage tweaks may add to housing imbalances – economists

Government’s policy change likely to lower qualifying hurdle for mortgages in the near term

canada

The Canadian government has tweaked the hurdle rate for consumers to qualify for a mortgage, but economists argue the move may compound recent concerns about household indebtedness and financial stability.

Effective from April, the mortgage ‘stress test’ qualifying rate for insured mortgages will be either the borrower’s contract rate, or the weekly median five-year fixed insured rate plus 200 basis points, whichever is higher.

Currently, the test is based on the borrower’s contract rate or

Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content.

To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@centralbanking.com or view our subscription options here: http://subscriptions.centralbanking.com/subscribe

You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@centralbanking.com to find out more.

Sorry, our subscription options are not loading right now

Please try again later. Get in touch with our customer services team if this issue persists.

New to Central Banking? View our subscription options

Register for Central Banking

All fields are mandatory unless otherwise highlighted

Most read articles loading...

You need to sign in to use this feature. If you don’t have a Central Banking account, please register for a trial.

Sign in
You are currently on corporate access.

To use this feature you will need an individual account. If you have one already please sign in.

Sign in.

Alternatively you can request an individual account

.