February 16th, 2010 brought new changes to mortgage underwriting!
What this means to consumers is, that rather than a move to a 30 year amortization and only a 90% loan to value maximum, there were 3 new changes that have taken place.
3 Key Changes
1. Applicants must now qualify using a 5 year fixed rate (in other words, you can not qualify on a lower variable rate) You can still take this term and rate however; this is for qualifying purposes only.
2. Home Owners taking equity out of their property are now limited to 90% of value, where they were allowed 95% before.
3. Canadians purchasing a non owner occupied rental property must now have 20% as a down payment.
