Federal Budget: How it Affects Mortgages

The federal budget was released yesterday, and it brings with it some changes to the mortgage industry. Here’s a quick recap of how the 2014 budget affects mortgages:

• Smaller mortgage lenders will be given preferable acces to CMHC funding.

For example, they’ll get a relatively better allocation of portfolio insurance and securitization guarantees. CMHC will also ‘consider’ additional ‘flexible funding options’ for smaller lenders. – Canadian Mortgage Trends

• The Department of Finance vows to raise awareness about collateral charge mortgages. These are mortgages where collateral charges make it harder (and costlier) for borrowers to switch lenders.
• The Department of Finance is also reducing the ability of CMHC to issue portfolio insurance by 18%.
• Cuts to the amount of new securitization guarantees that CMHC can provide this year.

To get more information on how the 2014 federal budget specifically affects the mortgage industry, check out this article from Canadian Mortgage Trends. There’s also a number of articles on the 2014 federal budget on the Calgary Herald website. If you have any specific questions about the mortgage industry, you can always contact me anytime as well.