Thursday, 22 February 2018
By Leahs Mortgages
Elan Weintraub Quoted on Mortgage Broker News -Some semblance of solace for domestic buyers?
As of this month, the charter bank discontinued the Foreign Income Program, which allowed foreign buyers to qualify for uninsured mortgages with 35% deposits. Elan Weintraub, a mortgage broker and director at Mortgageoutlet.ca, noted that foreign buyers have had an easier time qualifying for mortgages in Canada than Canadians, which he called confounding.
“I think foreign buyers should not have an advantage over Canadians,” he said. “Aside from the liquidity issues, some people feel those policies are anti-Canadian, and when I say that I mean you have your mom and dad and family, and they put 40% down and the bank is going to scrutinize every financial, tax return and job letter they have, but someone from another country writes a cheque for 35% and there are no questions asked.
“Aside from the liquidity, which I think is where OSFI is coming from because of the systemic risk of just lending people money without income verification, some people say it’s unfair to Canadian.”
