CMHC, Mortgage Insurance, Home Purchasing

CMHC First Quarter Results

Jencor Mortgage    |   

Categories: cmhc , Debt Consolidation , First Time Home Buyer Mortgage , Mortgage Broker , Mortgage Companies , mortgage insurer

Last week CMHC announced their first quarter results, and the Globe and Mail reported:

"Steven Mennill, CMHC's senior vice president of insurance, said most of the drop in demand for portfolio insurance in the first quarter was the result of a premium hike CMHC introduced January 1 because of new capital requirements for mortgage insurers that were introduced by Canada's financial regulator.

Mr. Mennill said CMHC doesn't know yet whether the drop in portfolio insurance signals a permanent shift in its business model or whether demand for the insurance product will swing back again.

"It's not clear at this point whether either of these changes will be sustained over the long term," he said. "Portfolio insurance (demand) is largely a function of the overall sources of capital and liquidity and funding available to lenders in the system, which is affected by a wide range of factors. The cost of portfolio insurance is just one of them."

The declining insurance volumes led to an 8.1% drop in premiums and fees earned by CMHC on new mortgage insurance written in the first quarter.

We are just wondering, perhaps CMHC's premium volume drop, is because of not accepting application for single unit rentals, not accepting applications of refinances, not accepting applications for properties valued at over $1 million rather than a premium hike.

CMHC used to promote itself as "helping house Canadians". CMHC now is in the business of preventing Canadians from achieving home ownership. Have all the changes CMHC instituted been in the best interests of the home buyer and mortgage consumer?

It would be very nice to see a dialogues about the role of CMHC in Canadian Housing. The House of Commons Standing committee did received testimony on the subject. The role of CMHC in our economy and in the housing market needs to be openly discussed and understood. Top down dictates from such an important institution do not serve Canadian well.

We all need to make ourselves aware of the government and CMHC's unintended consequences from mortgage rule changes. IF the VP of Insurance at CMHC is quoted as thinking the premium hike is responsible for the drop in revenue and not the restricted product offerings, perhaps more awareness is needed.

Croft Axsen

Broker Owner / President

Jencor Mortgage Corporation

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