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All you need to know about the new mortgage insurance premiums effective May1st, 2014
Questions and Answers
Purchase
1. What if a purchase and sale agreement is signed prior to May 1st, 2014 and the mortgage insurance application is submitted on or after May 1st, 2014?
In this scenario, the new premium rates would apply. Even though the purchase and sale agreement was signed before May 1st, 2014, the mortgage insurance application was received by Genworth after the effective date of the new premium rate price change, and therefore the new rates apply.
2. What if I have signed a purchase and sale agreement and I require mortgage insurance, however, the closing date is after May 1st, 2014, will the current premiums still apply?
As long as the application was submitted to Genworth prior to May 1st 2014, the current premiums will still apply.
3. I have a mortgage pre-approval from a lender from before May 1st, 2014, will I still be eligible for the current premium rates if I dont have a signed agreement of purchase until on or after May 1st, 2014?
All applications for mortgage insurance must be submitted prior to May 1st, 2014 with a binding purchase and sale agreement in place to be eligible for current premium rates.
4. If I bought a new construction property (i.e. condo) that is not expected to be built for another two years, will the new premium rates apply?
As long as the application for mortgage insurance was submitted to Genworth prior to May 1st, 2014 and the closing date is prior to the expiry of the Genworth commitment, then current premiums will apply.
5. If I have a Progress Draw mortgage that has been submitted to Genworth prior to May 1st 2014 and the draws are occurring on or after the May 1st, 2014, will the new premium rates be charged?
As long as the application for mortgage insurance was submitted to Genworth prior to the May 1st, 2014, the current premium rates will be charged.
Refinance
6. What if I am thinking about refinancing my home on or after May 1st, 2014, will I be eligible for the current premium rates?
To be eligible for the current premiums, applications must be submitted to Genworth prior to May 1st, 2014. If the refinance application is submitted on or after May 1st, 2014, the new premium rates will apply.Genworth Financial Mortgage Insurance Company Canada
Portability
7. How will the new premiums apply to an existing Genworth insured loan if the mortgage is ported to a new property?
For applications submitted on or after May 1st 2014, the new premium rates plus any applicable surcharges will apply when there is a port and increase to the current mortgage amount.
Changes On Or After May 1st, 2014
8. If I submit an application for mortgage insurance to Genworth prior to May 1st, 2014, and the application then gets resubmitted with changes or updates on or after May 1st, 2014, will the application continue to be eligible for the current premiums.
As long as the original application was submitted to Genworth prior to May 1st 2014, and there are no changes to the property, then the current premiums will still apply.
9. If a lender has cancelled (in error / technology issues/ making changes) a file that Genworth received prior to May 1st, 2014 and then needs to re-open or resubmit the application on or after the May 1st, 2014, can they resubmit and still be charged the current premium rates?
Where the submitting lender does not change, and there are no changes to the property, the mortgage insurance application will still be eligible for the current premium rates.
10. What would happen if there was a previous approval with Lender A under the current premium rates and the same application is then submitted by Lender B on or after May 1st, 2014?
New premium rates would apply to Lender Bs application as it was submitted to Genworth after the May 1st, 2014 deadline.
Record December caps record year for Canadian home sales
Statistics released today by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) show national home sales set another all-time record in December 2020.
Home sales recorded over Canadian MLS Systems jumped by 7.2% between November and December to set another new all-time record.
Seasonally adjusted activity was running at an annualized pace of 714,516 units in December 2020 the first time on record that monthly sales at seasonally adjusted annual rates have ever topped the 700,000 mark.
The month-over-month increase in national sales activity from November to December was driven by gains of more than 20% in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and Greater Vancouver.
Actual (not seasonally adjusted) sales activity posted a 47.2% y-o-y gain in December the largest year-over-year increase in monthly sales in 11 years. It was a new record for the month of December by a margin of more than 12,000 transactions. For the sixth straight month, sales activity was up in almost all Canadian housing markets compared to the same month in 2019.
For 2020 as a whole, some 551,392 homes traded hands over Canadian MLS Systems a new annual record. This is an increase of 12.6% from 2019 and stood 2.3% above the previous record set back in 2016.
Mortgage Deferral Agreements and Their Impact
CMHCs Fall 2020 Residential Mortgage Industry Dashboard discusses mortgage deferral agreements and their impact.
At the end of the second quarter, credit unions, mortgage finance companies (MFCs) and mortgage investment entities (MIEs) have allowed mortgage deferral agreements for about 6%, 7% and 7% of their respective residential mortgage portfolios.
Chartered banks have allowed 16% of mortgages to go into deferral since the beginning of the pandemic. Of these, close to 2 out of 3 borrowers had resumed payments on their mortgages at the end of the third quarter of 2020. In the coming months, we could see higher delinquency rates if some borrowers are unable to resume their payments; these mortgages will have to be booked as arrears.
These deferral agreements have affected financial institutions cash flows, with reductions of:
4% in scheduled mortgage payments
3% in non-scheduled payments (accelerated monthly payments and lump-sum payments)
While remaining at low levels, mortgages in arrears (90 or more days delinquent) have increased slightly between the first and second quarters of 2020 from:
0.24% to 0.26%, on average, for chartered banks
0.23% to 0.25%, on average, for non-bank mortgage lenders
We also observe an increase in early-stage delinquencies (31 to 59 days and 60 to 89 days), which suggests that arrears could continue on an upward trend.
Source: CMHC