The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that proposed federal government measures to cool Canada's hottest local housing markets could make it harder for borrowers in some parts of the country to qualify for affordable loans.
The Globe's Tamson McMahon writes that the Department of Finance confirmed it is studying the idea of implementing a deductible on government-backed mortgage insurance to force lenders to share the risks. At the same time, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions is expected to launch new rules at the start of next year that would require mortgage lenders and insurers to hold more capital against loans in local housing markets in which prices appear to be rising too quickly.
The new rules, which are still under review, would likely affect mortgages to borrowers in Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary and Edmonton, according to analyses of OSFI's proposal.
Federal regulators "haven't really contemplated that that has a big regional impact, that that will mean that one borrower in one region of the country will be treated differently," said John Webster at Bank of Nova Scotia. "I don't think they've thought that all the way through."
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