New requirements
Lender risk sharing
Foreign purchasers
New requirements
The government has announced further restrictions that will make it more difficult for some borrowers to get mortgage loans and make it more costly for foreigners to speculate in the real estate market.
Under current rules, a federally regulated mortgage lender may not make a loan on the security of a residential property if the value of the loan exceeds 80% of the value of the property, unless the loan is insured by an approved insurer. The approved insurers are the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and two private insurers that are backstopped by the government. The new rules will prevent these insurers from insuring certain loans, which will directly affect the ability of lenders to offer the loans.
With respect to high ratio loans (those that have a loan to value ratio greater than 80%) going forward, for a loan to be eligible for insurance the borrower must be able to qualify for the loan at the greater of the contracted interest rate and the Bank of Canada posted five-year fixed interest rate. As the five-year rate tends to be higher than the rates for lesser maturities, this may exclude some borrowers from obtaining financing. The rules also stipulate the maximum gross and total debt service ratios that may be used for the purposes of making the eligibility assessment. The rates are set at 39% and 44%, respectively.
While low ratio loans need not be individually insured, lenders often obtain insurance on a portfolio of these loans in order to qualify them for sale to a government sponsored securitisation programme. The new rules impose eligibility requirements for mortgages covered by portfolio insurance that are similar to those that apply to high ratio mortgages:
- a maximum amortisation length of 25 years;
- a maximum property purchase price below C$1 million at the time the loan is approved;
- for variable-rate loans that allow fluctuations in the amortisation period, loan payments that are recalculated at least once every five years to conform to the original amortisation schedule;
- a minimum credit score of 600 at the time the loan is approved;
- a maximum gross and total debt service ratios of 39% and 44% at the time the loan is approved, calculated by applying the greater of the mortgage contract rate or the Bank of Canada conventional five-year fixed posted rate; and
- a property that will be owner-occupied.
The new high and low ratio requirements are subject to phase-in rules, but will be fully effective by October 17 2016 and November 30 2016, respectively.
The government also announced that it intends to launch a consultation on the existing regime where the government takes on 100% of the risk relating to an insured mortgage. In particular, the consultation will seek comment on introducing a modest level of lender risk sharing. The consultation is to be launched sometime in the autumn on an unspecified date.
The government also indicated that it will address what it considers to be a misuse of the personal residence exemption for gains made on the sale of an individual's personal residence. The new rules will ensure that the exemption is available only to Canadian residents by requiring that the individual be resident in Canada in the year that he or she acquires a residence in order to claim the exemption in that year. Similarly, the rules respecting trusts will also be tightened to ensure that families can designate only one property as the family's principal residence for any given year.
For further information on this topic please contact John Jason at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada by telephone (+1 416 216 4000) or email ([email protected]). The Norton Rose Fulbright Canada website can be accessed at www.nortonrosefulbright.com/ca/en/.