The Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals (CAAMP) has released their fall 2013 survey report on the residential mortgage market.  Here are the findings that are relevant to first-time homebuyers and investors in the GTA.

Canadians are comfortable with their levels of mortgage debt

CAAMP chief economist Will Dunning suggested that this “may be due to the fact that Canadians believe they are in control of their mortgages: taking aggressive actions to pay them down, leveraging their equity to consolidate debt or make new investments, taking advantage of low interest rates and increasingly turning to mortgage brokers rather than major banks for their mortgage needs.”

Highlights of Canadian mortgage market findings

More consumers are using mortgage brokers: “among all new mortgages obtained this year, 40 per cent were obtained through a mortgage broker and 42 per cent from a bank.”

Consumers are confident that the market is sustainable and more than 90% of Canadians do not expect a housing bubble.

Contrary to some reports in the media, Canadian homeowners don’t seem to be over-leveraged either, at least as far as their mortgage indebtedness goes.  “More than 80 per cent of Canadian homeowners have at least 25 per cent equity in their homes, … [and] for mortgages repaid in the past two decades, actual repayment periods have been 30 per cent shorter than original contracted periods.”   Almost half of mortgage holders chose to accelerate their repayments and reduced their mortgage amortizations.

About the “Annual State of the Residential Mortgage Market in Canada” report

This industry report is a semi-annual review of the Canadian mortgage market.  The most recent version was based on information gathered by Maritz Research Canada in October 2013.   For a full copy of CAAMP’s spring survey report, visit www.caamp.org.

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