11 September 2019

According to the survey, 48% of Canadians believe the mortgage stress test should be eased for first-time buyers, while 47% would like to apply this easier regime to all buyers, and 38% want to eliminate the test.

In August, BMO chief economist Douglas Porter warned that with the current tendency, the most significant risk for the national market is not a possibility of a real estate crash, but a comeback to the previous sharp prices growth.

The reason is that although interest rates below 2% help borrowers, it may also lead to another wave of speculation among rich foreigners benefitting from Canada’s real estate markets.

“Canada’s policymakers need to figure out other methods of control over the market speculation (especially from other countries) amid conditions with rates below inflation, or even below zero,” – he added.