Mortgage Rules Delaying Home Purchase For First Time Buyers
Matt Chan • July 8, 2013
New Bank of Montreal Study Suggests That Roughly One in Five Potential First Time Buyers Have Postponed Their Purchase Since Tightened Mortgage Rules
Here is an article that discusses the impact of the new mortgage rules on first time buyers. The link to the article can be found here: BMO National Post Article on First Time Home Buyers
TORONTO — A new Bank of Montreal study suggests that roughly one in five potential first time homebuyers have postponed their purchase since Ottawa tightened Canada’s mortgage rules last year.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s introduced his new lending rules, which included reducing the maximum amortization period to 25 years from 30, a year ago Tuesday.
Since then, 19% of those polled by BMO say they have decided to wait longer to buy their first home.
But the majority — 66% — say the changes have not affected their home-buying timeline.
And 14% said they planned to buy sooner.
Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, says the new rules have helped the country’s overheated real estate market achieve its desired soft landing.
“While Canadian home sales weakened markedly at the time of the mortgage changes a year ago, they have since stabilized and have even partially recovered in recent months,” Porter said in a statement.
“For instance, Vancouver saw its home sales rise 12% year over year in June.”
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