The Mortgage Centre – BC Direct Mortgages

In addition, existing home sales are forecasted to rise 13.3%, according to The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) in a recent article by CBC News.

Interestingly, the average home price increase would be $17,300 and the slight drop predicted for 2011 would be $5,100. That’s still approx. $12,000 more in the average Canadian home price from now to the end of 2011! Perhaps that is one reason, along with higher interest rate forecasts, why they are predicting a new annual record of home sales to reach 527,300 for this year.

instead of going to the traditional bank branch according to a recent study by Maritz Research on behalf of CAAMP. In British Columbia, 27% of all mortgage activity is originated by mortgage brokers.

As an Accredited Mortgage Professional, my clients appreciate the knowledge and experience I bring to the table (I have over 30 years of mortgage lending experience!) and keeping them fully informed of the process from start to finish. Because of this, the majority of our clients are “repeat” and “word of mouth”. I truly enjoy finding my clients the best rate and mortgage solution which means more money in your pocket and not the bank’s! So, if you recently paid a visit to your bank and want to see if their deal for you was really the best out there, just give me a call toll free at 1-888-877-3535 or for Kelowna/West Kelowna residents you can reach me at 250-808-9000.

most Canadians are bracing for this according to a recent survey of mortgage consumers conducted by CAAMP in the fall of 2009. It was reported that for those who had purchased a home during the past 12 months, 80% of consumers took out fixed rate mortgages, and of those, 70% chose terms of 5 years or longer.

Whatever your decision is, fixed versus variable, allow me to go over the numbers with you and to ensure you receive the best possible rate available in today’s marketplace. There is absolutely no charge to you for this confidential review. Why not take advantage of my thirty plus years in the mortgage industry, so give me, Ed Kolisnyk (Accredited Mortgage Professional),  a call toll free at 1-888-877-3535 or, for Kelowna/West Kelowna residents, please call me direct at 250-808-9000.

From CBC News Online:

Ottawa is considering new measures to tighten mortgage standards and prevent would-be homebuyers from taking on more debt than they can afford.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in an interview with CTV he’s worried about people piling up debt while interest rates are low and then getting into trouble when interest rates rise, as they inevitably must.

As a result, the Conservative government is considering increasing the minimum down payment from five per cent “to a higher figure,” he said, and Ottawa may also reduce the amortization period from a maximum of 35 years “to something less.”

Twenty-five-year mortgages used to be the norm, until lenders started making 30-, 35- and 40-year mortgages available to stimulate demand. In mid-2008, the Department of Finance moved to trim the maximum paydown period to 35 years and to require a minimum five per cent down payment for new federally insured mortgages.

Even so, 18 per cent of Canadian mortgages are for terms longer than 25 years, and 10 per cent are amortized over 35 or 40 years, a recent Scotiabank report estimated.

The average price of a resale home in Canada hit $337,231 in November, the Canadian Real Estate Association said last week. That’s 19 per cent higher than the depressed levels of a year earlier.

Flaherty’s comments echo Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney, who last week urged consumers to get their financial houses in order to prepare for when the central bank inevitably raises its key policy rate from its current emergency record low of 0.25 per cent.

Proceed with caution: CIBC

Word that Ottawa might step further into the red-hot real estate market had housing watchers buzzing Monday.

“You could basically shut down 25 per cent of the market,” CIBC economist Benjamin Tal told CBC’s The Lang and O’Leary Exchange. “It’s going to be significant because we’re talking about a lot of money that took advantage of those rates.”

“What the Bank of Canada and Finance Department are saying is that people are abusing these rates, but they need to be careful not to risk this fragile recovery.”

Though he admits more lending caution would be prudent, he advocates Ottawa be wary of anything as drastic as a hard cap of 30-year amortizations, or minimum 10 per cent down payments, for example.

“If you want to do it, do it in a gradual way that you do not kill housing [because] housing is the only thing ticking in this market,” he said. “The timing is tricky.”

Here is an article I found on http://www.cbc.ca/ :

The signs of economic recovery seem to be everywhere these days. Consumer confidence is up.

Click here to read the article…

Here is an interesting article I found online at The Financial Post website:
The worst is over for North America’s beleaguered housing markets, with a steady stream of data out of Canada and the U.S. indicating the recovery is at hand, economists say.

Click here to read the article…

In April 2009, CAAMP (Canadian Assoc.of Accredited Mortgage Professionals) reported from a recent survey the following:

• First-time mortgages are most likely to be sourced through a mortgage broker (48%) (compared to Banks at 44%).
• The mortgage broker industry represented 46% of all new mortgages written in Canada last year (compared to 43% through Banks).
• The average mortgage holder has $145,000 in equity in their home.
• Last year, about 15% of mortgages involved an equity take-out (average amount of $42,500).
• Mortgage Brokers are most frequently used in Alberta (36% of mortgage activity), British Columbia (35%), Ontario (32%), and Manitoba (31%).

If you would like to read the contents of this survey, please visit CAAMP’s website at www.caamp.org. Click on “mortgage industry” and under Survey Reports click on “The Canadian Residential Mortgage Market During Challenging Times”.