This latest report, written by Chief Economist Will Dunning, helps explain “why a large majority of Canadians see homeownership as financially better than renting.” It highlights how Canadians continue to favour the goal of homeownership for the right considerations, including recognition that mortgage principal repayment “represents a very aggressive forced saving program.”

Other highlights:

• Canadians have remained prudent with their spending habits on housing, with 1 in 3 borrowers making some additional contribution to accelerate their repayment schedule annually. Overall mortgage growth seems to be dampened by homeowners’ aggressive mortgage repayments in our low-interest rate environment;
• In higher-priced areas, the “fear of missing out” phenomenon seems to be greatly overstated. Of 18 factors considered, the “prestige” of homeownership ranked last with respondents. Encouragingly, the top four considerations were monthly carrying costs, down payment savings, the potential for the house price to change (up or down), and potential future earnings;
• The debt-to-income ratio continues to increase, but the debt-to-assets ratio is flat, suggesting the majority of debt increase by Canadians is actually for sound financial reasoning, even in our high-priced markets.

The focus of this latest consumer research was on first-time buyers, targeting those aged 23-54. An exploration of factors that influence decisions to buy homes was conducted; out of a list of six major decisions, consumers rated the decision to buy a home as the second most stressful.  

The majority of Canadians do believe however that homeownership is in their long-term best financial interests - 76% indicated that they would be better off as a homeowner and just 8% see themselves better off financially as renters. 

The report also delves into the ongoing impacts of the federal government's mortgage regulations and examines Canadians' reaction to the FTHBI. 

Since late 2016, all insured mortgages in Canada must be tested at an interest rate that is essentially
two percentage points above the actual contracted rates. Since the start of 2018, all uninsured mortgages issued by federally-regulated lenders must also be stress tested. 

Government officials are trying to portray the situation as a binary choice, between continuation
of correct policies, versus eliminating the policies and returning to an escalation of related risks. This report provides an overview of the proposed modifications that could be made to the policies, in order to reduce the harm and the risks. 

Federal policy changes designed to cool housing prices and demand continue to impact housing markets across Canada with cascading consequences and pressures, according to the newly-released consumer research report.

The report outlines that improper policy levers can continue to depress the market and illustrates that a more reasonable stress test level and lending restriction reforms are now needed to strike a better balance for borrowers and policymakers, improving housing affordability and Canada’s economy.

In this report, a unique and powerful dataset is used to compare the costs of owning and renting across Canada. The conclusion is that in most situations in Canada, the monthly cost of homeownership is actually lower than the cost of renting equivalent housing.

In this summer consumer report, research shows that federal government policies with regard to mortgage lending are unduly suppressing housing activity and causing consumers to have a more negative outlook for housing and real estate across the country. Sentiment regarding the housing market has shifted decisively downwards reflecting the impacts of increased interest rates and government policies.

Prepared by Will Dunning, Chief Economist of Mortgage Professionals Canada, this report provides an overview of the evolving state of the residential mortgage market in Canada. Data used in this report was obtained from various sources, including an online survey of 2,018 Canadians conducted by Bond Brand Loyalty between late October and early November. 

For more than a decade, Mortgage Professionals Canada has produced semi-annual reports on the housing and mortgage markets in Canada, largely based on consumer surveys. This edition of the report takes a quite different approach: it is focused on consumers’ attitudes that will affect the decisions they make when buying a home.

This report is prepared by Will Dunning, Chief Economist of Mortgage Professionals Canada, to provide an overview of the evolving state of the residential mortgage market in Canada. Data used in this report was obtained from various sources, including an online survey of 2,000 Canadians conducted by Bond Brand Loyalty between October 21 and November 3.

This report takes a deeper look at the housing market in Canada, looking at each provinces resale housing markets, asking pertinent questions around topics such as foreign investors and the so called "housing bubble", and looking at the need for government intervention. 

This report examines opinions, expectations and characteristics of Canadians who expect to become homeowners in future, with results derived from our Spring 2016 Consumer Survey.