In January the Federal Government announced changes to the rules for government backed insured mortgages. These changes will come into force on March 18, 2011. The changes are as follows:
The Maximum amortization period has been reduced to 30 years from 35 years. This applies to new government insured mortgages with a higher loan to value ratio of 80%.
The percentage of home value to refinance a mortgage against has been reduced to 85% of the home value, down from 90%.
To withdraw government insurance backing on lines of credit secured by homes, such as Home Equity Lines of Credit. This will start April 18th, 2011.
This information was drawn from a publication from the Victoria Real Estate Board.
To see how these new changes will be applied to the CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) you can follow this link http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/corp/faq/faq_008.cfm
Charmaine Harris,
Managing Broker / Owner,
Coastal Life Realty Ltd.