Apr 21, 2017, 21:43 PM by Mortgage Professionals Canada

On Thursday, April 13, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance released a report on Canada’s housing markets.

Entitled Canada’s Housing Markets: Benefits, Barriers and Bringing Balance, the report includes five recommendations that address housing-related data gaps, the country’s mortgage regulations and housing affordability, both generally and in relation to first-time homebuyers.

Click here to view the full report.

The report provides a very good summary of the testimony and submissions made to the Parliamentary Committee in February. I’m personally very encouraged by the report as the committee’s recommendations clearly indicate that Members of Parliament from all political parties, including the governing Liberals have heard and understand the concerns of our industry. In summary, the recommendations are as follows:

1. The Government of Canada work with its provincial/territorial counterparts to ensure that – when needed – they implement responsible measures that will result in stable, affordable regional housing markets.
2. The Government of Canada examine increased support for first-time homebuyers.
3. The Government of Canada use Statistics Canada to address the gaps in housing-related data by creating a nationwide database that incorporates research from provincial/territorial and municipal governments, as well as research organizations. Such a database should provide data on home purchases and sales, homes purchased with cash, non-primary mortgage lending, foreign ownership of homes, loan-to-value statistics in relation to Canadian homes, Canada’s rental markets, investors in Canada’s housing markets, and the demographic profile of homeowners.
4. The Government of Canada ensure that further changes to Canada’s mortgage regulations do not occur until sufficient time has passed to assess the effects of the October 3, 2016 changes to those regulations.
5. The Government of Canada endeavour to ensure that mortgage regulations treat all mortgage lenders fairly.

We will follow up with the members of the committee as well as the Ministry of Finance to discuss these recommendations and the government’s desire to work towards fulfilling them. Thank you to all industry participants for helping to educate government about these critically important issues. We will continue to keep you informed of the ongoing discussions.