There are definitely some differences between the two programs. In B.C. it was almost an interest-free loan. The CMHC program is a shared equity program. In B.C., if you purchase a home and the government gave you $50,000, five years later when you sell the home, you owe B.C. $50,000. In the newer program, the government is taking the market risk with the homeowner. If the house price depreciates by 10%, you will have to give the government back 10% on whatever the mortgage amount they gave you was. They really are on title and sharing ownership.
In B.C., the reason we would say it is arguably a more appealing program is that there was no interest on the mortgage payments for the first five years, which really helps people keep those carrying costs lower. In almost every market properties are going to appreciate, even slightly. A lot of people aren't really comfortable giving part of that investment proceed away. When you took the B.C. program, you knew exactly what your liability was at the end of the ownership period. With the new federal program, you don't really.
To be fair, there are an awful lot of details about the program we don't know yet, like its application, the description of how it would apply the order of who is going to get paid first if there's a problem on the mortgages, the collateral charge for registration and whether the government shares any investment that is made post-purchase if you make an upgrade to your home. We don't really have the full details yet. Without those, it's difficult for us to even tell you what consumer take-up would be.
In the current structure it doesn't feel very appealing.