May 2019

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has defended mortgage stress test rules and warned federal policymakers to hold the line amid calls from industry associations to ease the rules.

“My job is to advise you against this reckless myopia and protect our economy from potentially tragic consequences,” Evan Siddall, CMHC’s president and CEO, said in a letter to the Standing Committee on Finance dated Thursday.

Siddall urged the committee to “look past the plain self-interest” of the parties lobbying for easing the rules. The Mortgage Professionals Association of Canada (MPAC), the Canadian Home Builders Association (CHBA), and the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) have all called for such change, according to a report by The Canadian

Real estate association offers optimistic forecast, saying buyers are gradually “adjusting” to mortgage stress test

Home sales in B.C. are likely to rise slightly this year, and more in 2020, according to a forecast released February 25 by the B.C. Real Estate Association (BCREA).

The association said it expects residential sales in the province to rise two per cent to 80,000 units this year. This follows a slow 2018 in which 78,345 homes traded hands on B.C.’s MLS®, which was 24.9 per cent lower than in 2017.

BCREA also predicted home sales to increase a further 6.9 per cent to 85,500 units in 2020. This would be a very normal level of activity, as the 10-year average for home sales in the province is 85,800 units.

The association