Upcoming Changes to Conventional Mortgages

September 29, 2017

I received an email this week from one of my trusted Mortgage Brokers from Roost Mortgage, Rylan Hahn, who offers to cover your legal fees for RE/MAX First clients through our RE/MAX First Advantage Program when helps you secure a mortgage for your home purchase.

He is my trusted advisor for updates on upcoming changes to mortgage rates and qualifying rules.

Please read the below message about the upcoming qualifying guidelines for those seeking a conventional mortgage which is 20% down or more. If you should be such an individual and would like my help to find your next purchase before these new rules are implemented, please don’t hesitate to reach out as it would be my pleasure to assist you.

An outlook on the changes coming this fall:

We first discussed the anticipated conventional (more than 20% down payment) mortgage changes in the early summer as the government of Canada announced some proposed changes and then asked for limited industry input and consultation.  This period has ended and the word on the street is that in spite of the proven detrimental effects (and unintended consequences) of their wide sweeping changes in fall of 2016, the government is moving forward with further changes this fall.  ​

These changes are targeting conventional borrowers and are seeking to have them qualify at a rate approximately 2% higher than their actual mortgage rate.  The effect on your buyer is simple, this will reduce the mortgage amount they can qualify for by ~20%.  In other words, if they were pre approved for a $500 000 mortgage it will decrease to $400 000.

There has not yet been a timeline set however if the Liberals follow suit then we would anticipate these changes happening with relatively short notice in the month of October.​

The take away would be that if you have clients who are purchasing with 20% down payment or more, they should check to see if they would still be able to purchase their ideal home with the proposed changes and if not then they should seriously consider purchasing a home in the next month or so as they will probably not be given a large amount of time once the changes are officially announced.

If you would like to call Rylan for more information or to secure your interest rate, please contact him at

Rylan Hahn, Managing Broker, The Mortgage Centre – Roost Mortgage

Suite 207, 264 Midpark Way SE Calgary T2X 1J6

PH: 403-802-7201

http://roostmortgage.com/