Down Payment – Getting it right the first time

General Kim Stenberg 25 Feb

Down payment is an essential component of every application when purchasing property – minimum amount required AND verifying the source of the money.

The federal government has imposed strict rules (FINTRAC anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regime) that ALL federally regulated banks and lending institutions must follow.  This legislation came into effect as an attempt to prevent unscrupulous individuals from using cash down payments when purchasing properties as an easy way to launder money.

Link to more info here: https://www.fintrac-canafe.gc.ca/fintrac-canafe/antimltf-eng

 

Most Common Down Payment Sources:

GIFT (from an immediate family member): if you are receiving any  portion of the down payment as a financial gift we will provide you with a gift letter to be signed by the individual(s) gifting the funds, as well as confirmation funds have been deposited to your account

SALE OF ANOTHER PROPERTY:  copy of the Sale Contract and Trust Ledger OR Statement of Adjustments & Disbursements (from your lawyer) to verify net sale proceeds

“OWN RESOURCES” if funds are coming from your chequing/savings account(s), Investments (RRSPs, TFSAs, mutual funds, stocks, bonds, etc.), or an accumulation of these accounts, we require a 90-day history (3 full months)

A common hesitation we hear from clients is about their bank statements, which obviously include a lot of personal details. We understand your concerns and have policies and procedures to make sure your privacy and personal information is protected.  On this note, we require unaltered bank statements; blacked out names, account numbers, or any other details are NOT acceptable and will be rejected by the lender.

TRANSFERRING FUNDS from one account to another; any large transfers or deposits will have to show a (90-day) history/source of where the money went and/or where it came from.

Large or unusual deposits need to be verified as an acceptable source for down payment:

  • Received a gift from an immediate family member? Easy, we’ll provide you with a gift letter to be signed by the individual who gave you the funds
  • Sold a vehicle? Easy, provide bill of sale
  • Tax refund from CRA?  Easy, provide Notice of Assessment confirming amount
  • Transfer from your TFSA to chequing account?  Easy, provide the 90-day history for the TFSA along with withdrawal
  • *CASH DEPOSITS* less than $1,000, fine, but cash deposits over $1,000 that you cannot provide confirmation for?  Lenders will ask for source of funds.  Money that is “under the mattress” could be a deal breaker.  Funds must be deposited into a Canadian account at least 90 days prior to you placing an offer on a property.  Please talk to us BEFORE making any deposits, we will guide you on how to handle this properly.

 

CONVENTIONAL vs HIGH RATIO MORTGAGE

If your down payment is LESS THAN 20% of the purchase price, your mortgage is considered a High Ratio / Insured. These mortgages require mortgage default insurance, and the insuring companies (CMHC, Genworth, or Canada Guaranty) charge an insurance premium which is added to and paid along with your mortgage.

If your down payment is 20% OR MORE of the purchase price, you will have a Conventional Mortgage, and mortgage default insurance is not required.

 

TRADITIONAL vs NON-TRADITIONAL DOWN PAYMENT

A traditional down payment comes from sources such as savings, RRSPs, the sale of a property, or a non-repayable financial gift from an immediate family member.

Planning on borrowing money from a friend, credit card, unsecured line of credit, or personal loan?  This is considered non-traditional down payment. Additional qualifying criteria applies, we need to know this up front.

 

RRSP / HOME BUYERS PLAN

Qualifying home buyers can withdraw up to $35,000 from their RRSPs to assist with the purchase of a home – tax-free and interest-free – as long as those funds are repaid into the RRSP over 15 years. If you do not repay the amount due for that year (i.e. $35,000 / 15 years = $2,333.33 per year), it will be added to your (taxable) income for that year.

If you buy a qualifying home together with your spouse or partner, each of you can withdraw up to $35,000. The funds are not required to be used only for the down payment, but for other purposes to assist in the purchase of a home.

 

FIRST-TIME HOME BUYER INCENTIVE PROGRAM

This program launched in September 2019 to help qualified first-time homebuyers reduce their monthly mortgage payments by offering additional 5% down payment for a purchase of a resale (existing) home or up to 10% additional down payment for purchase of a newly constructed home.  It is a shared-equity mortgage with the Government of Canada; the effect of the larger down payment is a smaller mortgage, and ultimately, lower monthly costs.  The homebuyer will have to repay the Incentive based on the property’s fair market value at the time of repayment – after 25 years OR when the property is sold, whichever comes first.  The government shares in both the upside and downside of the property value at time of repayment.

 

MONEY FROM OUTSIDE CANADA

Using funds from outside of Canada is acceptable, however, you need to have the money on deposit in a Canadian financial institution for at least 30 days before your closing/possession date.

 

CLOSING COSTS

In addition to your down payment, lenders want to see that you have additional funds available for closings costs; such items as land transfer tax*, legal fees, GST/HST-if required, property tax adjustments, and interest adjustments.  The general guideline for closing costs is 1.5% of the purchase price.

*We do not have land transfer taxes in Alberta and it is highly unlikely that your closing costs will actually be 1.5% of the purchase price.  But, keep in mind that this number is commonly used by lenders when accessing overall risk/fallback, and to approximate funds that they want to see, in addition to the down payment.

 

Please be upfront with your broker and discuss your down payment at the beginning – doing so will save everyone time and stress later in the process 😊

 

FINANCE MINISTER MAKES ANNOUNCEMENT TO EASE STRESS TEST ON INSURED MORTGAGES

Latest News Kim Stenberg 18 Feb

These changes will come into effect on April 6, 2020 — definitely a step in the right direction!

The new qualifying rate will be the mortgage contract rate or a newly created benchmark very close to it plus 200 basis points, in either case. The News Release from the Department of Finance Canada states, “the Government of Canada has introduced measures to help more Canadians achieve their housing needs while also taking measured actions to contain risks in the housing market. A stable and healthy housing market is part of a strong economy, which is vital to building and supporting a strong middle class.”

These changes will come into effect on April 6, 2020. The new benchmark rate will be the weekly median 5-year fixed insured mortgage rate from mortgage insurance applications, plus 2%.

This follows a recent review by federal financial agencies, which concluded that the minimum qualifying rate should be more dynamic to reflect the evolution of market conditions better. Overall, the review concluded that the mortgage stress test is working to ensure that home buyers are able to afford their homes even if interest rates rise, incomes change, or families are faced with unforeseen expenses.

This adjustment to the stress test will allow it to be more representative of the mortgage rates offered by lenders and more responsive to market conditions.

The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) also announced today that it is considering the same new benchmark rate to determine the minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages.

The existing qualification rule, which was introduced in 2016 for insured mortgages and in 2018 for uninsured mortgages, wasn’t responsive enough to the recent drop in lending interest rates — effectively making the stress test too tight. The earlier rule established the big-six bank posted rate plus 2 percentage points as the qualifying rate. Banks have increasingly held back from adjusting their posted rates when 5-year market yields moved downward. With rates falling sharply in recent weeks, especially since the coronavirus scare, the gap between posted and contract mortgage rates has widened even more than what was already evident in the past two years.

This move, effective April 6, should reduce the qualifying rate by about 30 basis points if contract rates remain at roughly today’s levels. According to a Department of Finance official, “As of February 18, 2020, based on the weekly median 5-year fixed insured mortgage rate from insured mortgage applications received by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the new benchmark rate would be roughly 4.89%.”  That’s 30 basis points less than today’s benchmark rate of 5.19%.

The Bank of Canada will calculate this new benchmark weekly, based on actual rates from mortgage insurance applications, as underwritten by Canada’s three default insurers.

OSFI confirmed today that it, too, is considering the new benchmark rate for its minimum stress test rate on uninsured mortgages (mortgages with at least 20% equity).

“The proposed new benchmark for uninsured mortgages is based on rates from mortgage applications submitted by a wide variety of lenders, which makes it more representative of both the broader market and fluctuations in actual contract rates,” OSFI said in its release.

“In addition to introducing a more accurate floor, OSFI’s proposal maintains cohesion between the benchmarks used to qualify both uninsured and insured mortgages.” (Thank goodness, as the last thing the mortgage market needs is more complexity.)

The new rules will certainly add to what was already likely to be a buoyant spring housing market. While it might boost buying power by just 3% (depending on what the new benchmark turns out to be on April 6), the psychological boost will be positive. Homebuyers—particularly first-time buyers—are already worried about affordability, given the double-digit gains of the last 12 months.

Dr. Sherry Cooper
Chief Economist, Dominion Lending Centres
Sherry is an award-winning authority on finance and economics with over 30 years of bringing economic insights and clarity to Canadians.

TD Lowers Posted Mortgage Rate to 4.99%

Latest News Kim Stenberg 11 Feb

Market interest rates have fallen sharply since the coronavirus-led investor flight to the safety of government bonds. The 5-year government bond yield–a harbinger of conventional mortgage rates–now stands at 1.34%, down sharply from the 1.60+% range it was trading in before the virus became global news (see chart below).

This morning, one of the Big-Six banks finally reacted. TD cut its posted 5-year fixed rate to 4.99%. TD’s posted rate had previously been at 5.34%, making this a 36 basis point cut. Other banks had lowered their qualifying rate to 5.19% last July, leading the Bank of Canada to cut its 5-year conventional mortgage rate to 5.19%. This is the qualifying rate under the B-20 rule introduced on January 1, 2018.

Even the regulators have been questioning the efficacy and fairness of using the big-bank posted rate as a qualifying rate for mortgage stress testing.

On January 24, the Assistant Superintendent of OSFI’s Regulation Sector, Ben Gully, gave a speech at the C.D. Howe Institute suggesting that the B-20 qualifying mortgage rate historically would be no more than 200 basis points above contract rates. He said that OSFI chose the “best available rate at the time.”

He went on to say that for many years, the difference between the benchmark rate and the average contract rate was 200 bps. However, this gap “has been widening more recently, suggesting that the benchmark is less responsive to market changes than when it was first proposed. We are reviewing this aspect of our qualifying rate, as the posted rate is not playing the role that we intended. As always, we will share our results with our federal partners. This will help to inform the advice OSFI might provide to the Minister, as requested in the mandate letter to him.”

By keeping posted rates too high, the Big-Six banks have inflated the qualifying rate, making it more difficult than necessary to pass the stress test to get a mortgage.

While TD’s rate cut is welcome news, its posted rate is still too high by historical standards. Given today’s average contract rates, the posted rate should be at least 20 bps lower still.

Banks have a strong incentive to inflate their posted mortgage rate. For one thing, they are the basis for the calculation of big-bank mortgage penalties. Also, they are the minimum qualifying rate.

The posted rate does not appropriately reflect the state of the mortgage market as few borrowers would pay this rate. Interestingly, banks often move this rate in lock-step, or close to it, reflecting their dominant oligopolistic position in the marketplace.

If a couple of the other big banks follow TD’s lead, the Bank of Canada benchmark rate will be below 5% for the first time since January 2018 when the new B-20 rules were adopted. Lowering the stress test rate by 20 bps from 5.19% to 4.99% would require roughly 1.8% less income to qualify for a mortgage on the average Canadian home price (assuming a 20% downpayment), increasing buying power by 2%. This doesn’t sound like much, but it can have a meaningful psychological impact on already improving housing markets. The latest CREA data shows that the national average home price surged 9.6% year-over-year in December. A lower stress test rate would make a busy spring housing market even more active.

Dr. Sherry Cooper, Chief Economist, Dominion Lending Centres
Sherry is an award-winning authority on finance and economics with over 30 years of bringing economic insights and clarity to Canadians.

How to Verify Your Down Payment When Buying a Home

General Kim Stenberg 4 Feb

HOW TO VERIFY YOUR DOWN PAYMENT WHEN BUYING A HOME

Saving for a down payment is one of the biggest challenges facing people wanting to buy their first home.
To fulfill the conditions of your mortgage approval, it’s all about what you can prove (hard to believe – but some people have lied in the past – horrors!).
Documentation of down payment is required by all lenders to protect against fraud and to prove that you are not borrowing your down payment, which changes your lending ratios and potential your mortgage approval.

DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED BY THE LENDER TO VERIFY YOUR DOWN PAYMENT

This is a government anti-money laundering requirement and protects the lender against fraud.

1. Personal Savings/Investments: Your lender needs to see a minimum of 3 months’ history of where the money for your down payment is coming from including your: savings, Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) or investment money.

  • Regularly deposit all your cash in the bank, don’t squirrel your money away at home. Lenders don’t like to hear that you’ve just deposited $10,000 cash that has been sitting under your mattress. Your bank statements will need to clearly show your name and your account number.
  • Any large deposits outside of “normal” will need to be explained (i.e. tax return, bonus from work, sale of a large ticket item). If you have transferred money from once account to another you will need to show a record of the money leaving one account and arriving in the other. Lenders want to see a paper trail of where your down payment is coming from and how it got into your account.

 

2. Gifted Down Payment: In some expensive real estate markets like Metro Vancouver & Toronto, the bank of Mom & Dad help 20% of first time home buyers. You can use these gifted funds for your down payment if you have a signed gift letter from your family member that states the down payment is a true gift and no repayment is required.

  • Gifted down payments are only acceptable from immediate family members: parents, grandparents & siblings.
  • Be prepared to show the gifted funds have been deposited in your account 15 days prior to closing. The lender may want to see a transaction record. i.e. $30,000 from Bank of Mom & Dad’s account transferred to yours and a record of the $30,000 landing in your account. Bank documents will need to show the account number and names for the giver and receiver of the funds. Contact me for a sample gift letter.

3. Using your RRSP: If you’re a First Time Home Buyer, you may qualify to use up to $35,000 from your Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) for your down payment.

  • Home Buyers Plan (HBP): Qualifying home buyers can withdraw up to $35,000 from their RRSPs to assist with the purchase of a home. The funds are not required to be used only for the down payment, but for other purposes to assist in the purchase of a home.
  • If you buy a qualifying home together with your spouse or other individuals, each of you can withdraw up to $35,000.
  • You must repay all withdrawals to your RRSP’s 15 years. Generally, you will have to repay an amount to your RRSP each year until you have repaid the entire amount you withdrew. If you do not repay the amount due for a year (i.e. $35,000/15 years = $2,333.33 per year), it will be added to your income for that year.
  • Verifying your down payment from your RRSP, you will need to prove the funds show a 3-month RRSP history via your account statements which need to include your name and account number. Funds must be sitting in your account for 90 days to use them for HBP.

4. Proceeds from Selling Your Existing Home: If your down payment is coming from the proceeds of selling your currently home, then you will need to show your lender an accepted offer of Purchase and Sale (with all subjects removed) between you and the buyer of your current home.

  • If you have an existing mortgage on your current home, you will need to provide an up-to-date mortgage statement.

5. Money from Outside Canada: Using funds from outside of Canada is acceptable, but you need to have the money on deposit in a Canadian financial institution at least 30 days before your closing date.  Most lenders will also want to see that you have enough funds to cover Property Transfer Tax (in BC) PLUS 1.5% of the purchase price available in your account to cover your closing costs (i.e. legal, appraisal, home inspection, taxes, etc.).

  • Property Transfer Tax (PTT) All buyers pay Property Transfer Tax (except first-time buyers purchasing under $500,000 and New Builds under $750,000). This is a cash expense, in addition to your down payment.
    Property Transfer Tax (PTT) cannot be financed into the mortgage

Buying a home for the first time can be stressful, therefore being prepared with the right documentation for your down payment and closing costs can make the process much easier.
Mortgages are complicated, but they don’t have to be. Contact a Dominion Lending Centres mortgage professional near you.

KELLY HUDSON, Dominion Lending Centres – Accredited Mortgage Professional