10 September 2019

At the same time, the poll says there are numerous challenges on the way to homeownership in Canada. Buying a home took the second position in the list of six most stressful major life decisions, losing only to moving to another city.

“Purchasing a property is complicated and extremely stressful, but we still buy houses, as we think it’s better than renting”, – says the report’s author, Mortgage Professionals Canada Chief Economist Will Dunning.

Here are some of the main poll’s findings:

Consumer Sentiment

• Although Canadians agree (6.52 out of 10) that “interest rates have led to more homeowners among those people who shouldn’t have become them recently”, the level of agreement fell below the long-term average of 6.93.
• The respondents also agree that “Canadian housing remains a great long-term investment” (7.16) and that mortgages represent “a good type of debt” (6.99).
• When it comes to the economic forecast for the next 12 months, the Canadians feel moderately optimistic (6.07), which is slightly higher than the neutral level of 5.5.

The B-20 stress test

• It turns out only half of respondents know what the stress test requirements are.
• They agree (6.84 out of 10) that the stress tests will “guarantee the homebuyers’ ability to deal with their mortgages in case of a significant rate increase in the future.”
• Nevertheless, the respondents also believe (6.62 out of 10) the stress tests “will make more people choose more expensive mortgage variants from different lenders.”

The First-Time Home Buyer Incentive

• Canadians agree moderately that the new First-Time Home Buyer Incentive, implemented on September 2, will improve the housing affordability in Canada.
• Meanwhile, most of the existing homeowners say they wouldn’t use this program if they had a chance when they made their purchase.
• Most of them would not want to give away part of their home equity.

30-Year Amortizations

• Some Canadians support bringing back the 30-years maximum amortization period, which was cut to only 25 years in 2012.
• Respondents believe (6.71 out of 10) returning to 30-year amortizations could let homeowners control their payments better during the critical early stages of their mortgage loan.
• In addition to it, some (6.15 out of 10) consider it could lead to more Canadians being worse off at the end of their mortgage and that it would make more Canadians buy homes they can’t in fact afford (6.72 out of 10).
• If they had to choose between the FTHBI and return to 30-year amortizations, 44% respondents would prefer the latter, while 27% say the first option would be better.