Finance committee  To answer about the data, the Canadian Real Estate Association will have tracked all the homes that changed hands this year. If you were to cross-reference that against the records of insurance through CMHC and some of the private insurers, you should be able to figure out pretty quickly how many of those purchases were made with less than 20% down.

Finance committee  Sir, can I...?

Finance committee  I think there's a necessary distinction between an individual who's an employee of a financial institution, who recruits for one lender, versus a broker who's independent, who's a commission-based agent, and who would represent multiple lenders for the origination of a loan.

Finance committee  Any incentives at all that could assist with adding supply to the markets where we are seeing values appreciating would be incredibly beneficial for everybody. I think that almost all of the pricing pressure in the Toronto and Vancouver areas is very specifically a supply-side issue.

Finance committee  My tenure with the association is just about 12 months but I know my predecessor was talked to regarding the increase in the down payment change from $500,000 to $1 million and the incremental increase, if you will, as that's tiered. So sometimes, yes.

Finance committee  I would echo almost all of that sentiment. I think we heard from CMHC on Monday that of the 165% debt-to-income ratio, 73% of that was actually mortgage debt. The rest of it must be change, and that is tied to not great assets. If that's the case, mortgage debt is almost a forced savings plan for a good number of Canadians.

Finance committee  Mortgage Professionals Canada was not consulted prior to any of these specific changes being introduced. Regarding the question of regionality and housing starts having stalled in Calgary, I am hearing very similar reports from the lenders within our community of the number of applications for new mortgages this January versus last January seeing startling drop-offs.

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you for the opportunity to present to the committee today. My name is Paul Taylor. I'm president and CEO of Mortgage Professionals Canada, Canada's mortgage industry association representing 11,500 individuals and over 1,000 companies. We include mortgage brokers, mortgage lenders, mortgage insurers, and service industry providers.