Cell (604) 727-5385 | graham@grahamhiggins.com

  Mortgage Calculator

Calculate Your Payments

  Buyer Resources

Best Real Estate Advice

  Seller Resources

Selling For Top Dollar

  Mobile Listings

Search Anywhere Always

  Here To Help You

You Can Contact Me Always

RSS

“...The changes to mortgage insurance criteria are unnecessarily jeopardizing the health of Canada’s housing markets and the broader economy.”

That’s the conclusion from economist Will Dunning in CAAMP’s just-released State of the Residential Mortgage Market report. (Link)

Dunning says his research suggests the Finance Department has created “a policy-induced housing market downturn” that could reinforce existing weakness.

He calculates that the most recent (July 2012) rule changes will knock 11% of potential high-ratio homebuyers out of the market—that is, until they can come up with more net income or a bigger down payment.

He lays out the following arguments:

Jobs underpin the market…

  • “Job creation is the key driver of housing demand” writes Dunning.
  • “The ‘housing wealth’ effect (the increased confidence, and willingness to spend and invest, that results from rising house prices) is the single most important driver of job creation”
  • What’s more, in the prior five years, 18% of job creation in Canada has originated from housing and mortgage activity.
  • If mortgage rule tightening drives down home prices, job creation will suffer and it could trigger a negative “feedback” loop between the housing market and the economy.

Price risk…

  • Dunning writes: “Experience around the world has shown that once house prices start to fall, the outcome is unpredictable, and can turn into a downward spiral that wreaks substantial economic damage.”
  • He adds: “It can happen that the loss of jobs affects housing demand, leading to further price drops and a vicious downward spiral.”
  • There is growing evidence to suggest that the combined mortgage rule changes of the past four years may now be “significant enough to substantially reduce housing activity.”

What’s happened so far…

  • The government has handed down four sets of insured mortgage restrictions since July 2008. Dunning summarizes them in the list below:

 

(Source: Will Dunning)

  • He says the cumulative effect of these four sets of changes “have resulted in a massive contraction in credit availability.”
  • From August to October, home sales were 7.8% lower than the prior year.
  • Some analysts downplay the effects of past mortgage rule changes, pointing to the subsequent sales rebounds that took place.
  • Dunning notes that those rebounds coincided with falling mortgage rates. “It appears that the movements of mortgage rates were more important than the changes in the mortgage insurance criteria,” he says.

The effects…

  • “16.9% of high-ratio mortgages that were funded in 2010 could not have been funded under the revised criteria.”
  • “…The final set of changes that was announced in June 2012 and took effect in July will have had the most significant consequences, accounting for about 65% of the impact (11.0% out of 16.9%).”

Time for young buyers to save up…

  • “…Simulations indicate that on average (based on 2010 real mortgage data), the additional down payment required is about $25,000, 7% of the purchase price." That's what it takes to offset the mortgage rule effect.
  • "If we assume that these households can devote 10% of their pre-tax incomes to enlarging their down payments, on average it will take 3.5 years to re-qualify – and this assumes that house prices and interest rates do not increase.

    (10% may be optimistic. Doug Porter recently estimated that the median family saves only 4%, or $2,800 a year.)

What happens next…

  • 55% of buyers need high-ratio mortgages, according to Maritz. “If 16.9% of potential high ratio buyers are removed from the market, this would reduce total home sales by about 9%,” Dunning states.
  • “…It will become more difficult for people who want to move-up in the market to sell their current home. In consequence, over time, we should expect to see reduced activity in upper segments of the market.”
  • “…Declines in activity will be partly (and gradually) mitigated, as some of the affected potential buyers save additional down payments and can return to the housing market.”
  • “…It now appears that the 2010 changes had a lasting negative effect (on home sales).”
  • “…the negative effects on housing activity will be quite prolonged…the damage is not yet fully developed.”

Was it necessary?

  • “The average resale house price in Canada had been essentially flat since early 2011,” Dunning says. On top of that we faced (and still face) material risks from the U.S., Europe and from domestic budget tightening.
  • “There was no need to further cool the housing market,” he concludes.

*******

Stricter mortgage rules will be a drag on demand until the market has time to adjust. Let's just hope the new rules aren't coupled with an economic slowdown or a natural cyclical home price correction. In that case, the latest rule changes could prove to be very bad timing.

Of course, low rates could always save the day once again—or delay an inevitable correction if you want to look at it that way. We could also see buyers get off the sidelines and purchase on dips—i.e., buy if home prices drop 10% or so. Both of those factors could pad a fall, at least somewhat.

Read

Vancouver, BC – November 14, 2012. The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that the dollar volume of homes sold through the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in BC declined 14.6 per cent to $2.7 billion in October compared to the same month last year. A total of 5,276 MLS® residential unit sales were recorded over the same period, down 10 per cent from October 2011. The average MLS® residential price was $508,292, down 5.1 per cent from a year ago.

"While consumer demand was stronger in October on a provincial basis, home sales continue to trend below last year’s level,” said Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. “Tighter mortgage credit regulation has moderated housing demand on the South Coast."

“However, an increase in residential sales was recorded in the Okanagan, Kootenay, Chilliwack and BC Northern board areas,” added Muir.

Year-to-date, BC residential sales dollar volume declined 18.2 per cent to $31.1 billion, compared to the same period last year. Residential unit sales declined 10.5 per cent to 59,946 units, while the average MLS® residential price was 8.6 per cent lower at $518,321.

-30-

For more information, please contact:

Cameron Muir Damian Stathonikos
Chief Economist Director of Communications and Public Affairs
Direct: 604.742.2780 Direct: 604.742.2793
Mobile: 778.229.1884 Mobile: 778.990.1320
Email: cmuir@bcrea.bc.ca Email: dstathonikos@bcrea.bc.ca
Read

As we had a 7.7 earthquake of the cost this week I thopught it was time we re read the Earth Quake Preparedness booklet. Most of us are just no prepared yey had this quake happened closer to Vancouver there would probably be tremendous damage and quite a few of us would not have habitable homes and most no power fopr a week or so.

Folow the link below for the information

http://www.pep.bc.ca/hazard_preparedness/prepare_now/prepare.html

Read
Categories:   | Abbotsford West, Abbotsford | Ambleside, West Vancouver Real Estate | Annieville, N. Delta | Annieville, N. Delta Real Estate | Bolivar Heights | Bolivar Heights, North Surrey | Bolivar Heights, North Surrey Real Estate | Bridgeport RI, Richmond Real Estate | Cedar Hills, North Surrey Real Estate | Central City | Downtown NW, New Westminster Real Estate | East Newton | East Newton, Surrey | East Newton, Surrey Real Estate | Elgin Chantrell, South Surrey White Rock Real Estate | Fleetwood Tynehead | Fleetwood Tynehead, Surrey | Fleetwood Tynehead, Surrey Real Estate | Fraser Heights, North Surrey Real Estate | Gabriola Island, Islands-Van. & Gulf Real Estate | Guildford | Guildford, North Surrey | Guildford, North Surrey Real Estate | Killarney VE, Vancouver East Real Estate | Langley Real Estate | N Surrey | N Surrey real Estate | New Westminster | New Westminster Real Estate | North Surrey | North Surrey Real Estate | Property | Queen Mary Park Surrey | Queen Mary Park Surrey, Surrey | Queen Mary Park Surrey, Surrey Real Estate | Real Estate | Sapperton | Sapperton, New Westminster Real Estate | Steveston North, Richmond | Steveston South, Richmond Real Estate | Sullivan Heights, Burnaby North Real Estate | Sunnyside Park Surrey, South Surrey White Rock Real Estate | Surrey | Surrey Real Estate | Uptown NW | Uptown NW, New Westminster | Walnut Grove, Langley Real Estate | West Newton, Surrey | West Newton, Surrey Real Estate | Whalley | Whalley, North Surrey | Whalley, North Surrey Real Estate | White Rock, South Surrey White Rock Real Estate | Willoughby Heights, Langley | Yaletown, Vancouver West Real Estate
Reciprocity Logo The data relating to real estate on this website comes in part from the MLS® Reciprocity program of either the Greater Vancouver REALTORS® (GVR), the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB) or the Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board (CADREB). Real estate listings held by participating real estate firms are marked with the MLS® logo and detailed information about the listing includes the name of the listing agent. This representation is based in whole or part on data generated by either the GVR, the FVREB or the CADREB which assumes no responsibility for its accuracy. The materials contained on this page may not be reproduced without the express written consent of either the GVR, the FVREB or the CADREB.