Ottawa to Help First Time Buyers Lower Mortgage Payments

                               Photo Credit: Tierra Mallorca - www.tierra-mallorca.com 

A new federal program designed to help middle class families get on the housing ladder is being introduced while the previously announced Shared Equity Mortgage Provider Fund will launch next month.

 The federal government has announced that the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive will reduce monthly mortgage payments for first-time buyers without increasing their down payment.

The incentive will allow eligible first-time homebuyers who have the minimum down payment for an insured mortgage with CMHC, Genworth or Canada Guaranty, to apply to finance a portion of their home purchase through a form of shared equity mortgage with the Government of Canada.

For existing homes, the incentive will be 5% while for new homes there will be a 5% or 10% option. The larger share available for new homes aims to boost housing supply.

The program will launch on September 2, 2019, with the first closing on November 1, 2019.

"The First Time Home-Buyer Incentive is designed to benefit those who need more assistance with housing costs, middle class Canadians. Thanks to mortgage payments that are more affordable, many families will have hundreds of dollars more each month in their pockets – money to spend on things like healthy food, sports activities for their kids, or even save for the future." said Bill Morneau, Minister of Finance.

The government has clarified that:
  •  Doubling the incentive for purchasers of new homes encourages new housing supply.
  • No on-going repayments are required, the incentive is not interest bearing, and the borrower can repay the incentive at any time without a pre-payment penalty.
  • The government shares in the upside and downside of the change in the property value.
  • The buyer must repay the incentive after 25 years, or if the property is sold.
  • The incentive will be available to first-time homebuyers with qualified annual household incomes up to $120,000. At the same time, a participant's insured mortgage and the incentive amount cannot be greater than four times the participant's qualified annual household income.

  "Through the National Housing Strategy, more middle-class Canadians - and people working hard to join it - will find safe, accessible and affordable homes. Our proposed measures will reduce the monthly mortgage for your first home by up to $286. This will mean more money in the pockets of Canadians and will help up to an estimated 100,000 families across Canada," added Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and Minister Responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Shared equity fund

As announced in Budget 2019, the government is also introducing the Shared Equity Mortgage Provider Fund, a five-year, $100-million lending fund to assist providers of shared equity mortgages to help eligible Canadians achieve affordable homeownership.

The fund will launch on July 31, 2019 and will be administered by CMHC. It will support an alternative homeownership model targeted at first-time homebuyers, help attract new providers of shared equity mortgages and encourage additional housing supply.

Are you looking to invest in property? If you like, we can get one of our mortgage experts to tell you exactly how much you can afford to borrow, which is the best mortgage for you or how much they could save you right now if you have an existing mortgage. Click here to get help choosing the bestmortgage rate.

Article by: Canadian Real Estate Wealth


Canmore Real Estate NewsGram - June/July 2019

              
                   Photo Credit: Jon Huyer

2019 is Continuing to be Very Active!

As we move through June and get excited for what spring and summer will bring to Canmore and Banff, the real estate market has continued to stay strong. Last year we saw an increase in our active listing inventory from January through May of 36% and this year we have only seen an increase of 19%. Keep in mind that our inventory in January 2018 was quite low but we are finding that buyers in certain market segments are having to be more patient to find what they are looking for and when they do find it are having to move quickly to secure it.

The market as a whole does seem quite balanced as we continue to have buyers that are hesitant to overpay so we are seeing some tougher negotiations with some buyers willing to walk away.

Our sales data for April is a little skewed as the total includes 30 sales that actually took place in the few months previous. (new construction sales) Without those listing our activity year over year for the month of April was down but with those additional sales and the dominating performance of year over year sales in March the market is showing great signs.

Canmore and Banff are ready to celebrate Canada Day again on July 1st. If you have not taken part in the festivities you should really take the opportunity to come out. For Canmore take a look here for more details:

http://www.canadadaycanmore.ca/

For Banff go here:

https://banff.ca/canadaday 

As always thank you for choosing us in your buying and selling! Should you know of anyone else who may be interested in buying or selling please let us know, we are never too busy for your referrals.

Click the link for the full Newsgram!   June/July 2019 NewsGram

As we all get excited for summer to spend more time outside, so does wildlife!
Please remember to drive carefully!