—CMHC mortgage insurance, as the government did earlier this year, when it introduced some restrictions on the use of high-loan-to-value mortgages for investment properties, it changed the qualifying interest rate, and it made some other adjustments. We are starting to see the effects of those adjustments on cooling activity in the housing market. So that's one type of tool.
I will say that changes of this type—everybody has a different housing system around the world—including direct regulation on loan-to-value ratios for mortgages are an instrument that has been used in a variety of other locales. And I would further point out that the issues we are facing, in a period of low interest rates and relatively stable prices with accumulation of debt and some asset price pressures, are common to other economies around the world today that did not have the financial crisis. We felt the effects of the financial crisis, but we continue to have financial systems that work and policies relatively low.
So the options in Canada include those types of measures.
The other option, which is not something that has been done, nor are we in an immediate position to do, would be adjustments to the level of capital through the cycle that banks carry against certain types of lending, including to housing.