Mortgage Rates & Mortgage Broker News in Canada

The Public MIC Advantage

Jeffrey D. Sherman, Special to CMT

The function of Canada’s securities regulation is to protect investors. To help investors make informed decisions, regulated public markets require broad access to information on exchange-listed companies.

In the June 9 article entitled “A Threat to Private Financing,” it was noted that Ontario has restrictions on the sale of securities. These limit many investors to buying only publicly traded Mortgage Investment Corporations (MICs), and not private MICs. This is sound regulatory policy.

A Few Last Tweaks by CMHC

Last week CMHC eliminated some more mortgage insurance offerings. Effective July 31, for example, it will no longer insure amortizations over 25-years or $1 million+ properties with low-ratio transactional insurance.  (More details here)

Canada’s largest insurer says this was a business decision. But most business decisions maximize profit and/or significantly reduce risk. These changes don’t necessarily do that, making it appear more like a political decision.

Mortgage Careers of the Week

Company: The Mortgage Centre (Durhammortgage.com Ltd.)
Position Title: Mortgage Agent/Broker
Years of Experience Required: 3 years
Licences Required: Mortgage Agent or Broker
Location of Position: Toronto (east) and Durham Region, Ontario
Applicants may contact: [email protected]

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Company: London Life
Position Title: Mortgage Planning Specialist
Years of Experience Required: 3-5 years
Licences Required: NA
Location of Position: Kingston, Ontario; Saint John, New Brunswick; and Toronto, Ontario
Applicants may contact: [email protected]

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Company: XCEED Mortgage Corporation
Position Title: Business Development Manager
Years of Experience Required: 4 years
Licences Required: NA
Location of Position: Calgary or Edmonton, Alberta
Applicants may contact: [email protected] or [email protected]

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Click on the position title above for more information. Advertise your mortgage job opening today! Click here to post. Or browse CMT's Mortgage Jobs Database.

Oliver Reaffirms Stance on Mortgage Rates

The government controls our existence. It tells us how fast to drive, at what age we can drink, how much taxes we pay and so on.

But it should never have the power to arbitrarily compel law-aiding businesses to raise prices. When it does that, the results are bad. And that applies to mortgage rates as well, as Finance Minister Joe Oliver wisely understands.

On Wednesday Oliver told BNN:

A Threat to Private Financing

Wayne Strandlund, Special to CMT

Borrower choice and the success of mortgage brokers is tied to the availability of a wide variety of mortgage funds. Apart from conventional insured and uninsured mortgages, there are Alt-A and B, 1st and 2nd mortgages available through the private mortgage market.

For years, Mortgage Investment Corporation (MIC) lenders have provided billions of dollars of this private alternative mortgage financing. But under proposed regulations, this opportunity for borrowers and brokers will be severely curtailed, causing measurable economic harm.

DUCA & Brokers – This Should Be Good

Mortgage spreads can’t get much tighter, right?

Wrong.

DUCA Financial, Ontario’s 5th-largest credit union, has launched a strikingly competitive program for mortgage brokers. How competitive? We’re talking 5-year fixed rates currently priced just 115 basis points above the 5-year bond. That is unheard of pricing in today’s market.

If DUCA can maintain such spreads, the 60-year-old credit union could siphon hundreds of millions (perhaps billions) in mortgage volume from Ontario competitors.

The real story, however, is how DUCA can offer those rates.

Mortgage Careers of the Week

Company: Equity Financial Trust
Position Title: VP, Mortgage Operations
Years of Experience Required: 8 years
Location of Position: Toronto, Ontario
Applicants may contact: [email protected]

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Company: Equity Financial Trust
Position Title: VP, Sales & Marketing
Years of Experience Required: 8 years
Location of Position: Toronto, Ontario
Applicants may contact: [email protected]

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Click on the position title above for more information. Advertise your mortgage job opening today! Click here to post. Or browse CMT's Mortgage Jobs Database.

Q2 2014 Bank Earnings - Mortgage Morsels

The unusually harsh winter took its toll on the economy in the second quarter, and mortgage activity was no exception.

A number of "Big 6" banks posted tempered mortgage growth in Q2, a period that typically encompasses the busy spring market. But this spring got off to a slow start. Weather was partly blamed, but clearly other factors were at work (including modest economic growth and drag from mortgage policy changes).

As we do every quarter, we've gone through the Big 6 Banks’ quarterly earnings reports, presentations and conference calls and pulled together these mortgage tidbits. Admittedly, this quarter was rather dull from an industry insights perspective. The most notable observations are highlighted.

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One-on-One with IG’s Veselinovich

After Investors Group ended its headline-making 1.99% variable-rate promotion, we did a "post-game interview" with Peter Veselinovich, vice-president of banking and mortgage operations.

Going forward, it sounds like IG will be in and out of the mortgage rate market as opportunities permit. It will not be undercutting all competitors (like it did here) on an ongoing basis.

Here’s Veselinovich’s take on how the promotion went and what to expect from IG — mortgage-wise — for the rest of the year.

CAAMP’s Spring Mortgage Report 2014

Every six months, CAAMP's mortgage market survey gives us a pulse on mortgage activity. The theme of its latest report is understanding the "new normal" in the mortgage market.

Here's one of the report's key assertions:

"The (mortgage rule) changes made in 2012 were inappropriate: there was an issue of inadequate housing supply in a few communities that was resulting in excessive price growth in those communities. But, the policy response to these localized supply issues was to depress housing demand, which applies (unnecessarily) to all areas of Canada..."

CAAMP's chief economist and report author Will Dunning suggests more focus should be placed on rectifying the "insufficient supply" in pricey housing markets, rather than impeding demand and economic growth through additional mortgage regulation.

Apart from commentary on mortgage policy, Dunning shares his usual array of intriguing findings. There's new data on mortgage rates, refinancing, amortization length and more. Key points are highlighted below in green, with our comments in italics. 

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