First, we thank the government for implementing an increase in the homebuyers' plan from $25,000 to $35,000 and, as of January of this year, for expanding the program to include those who have experienced a breakdown of a marriage or common-law partnership. This is a good change.
Our request to reduce the stress test has been continuous since that test's introduction. We have also been consistently clear that we do not advocate the elimination of the stress tests. However, the current Bank of Canada-posted rate mechanism is unduly onerous, and increasingly so over the last 15 months. Five-year fixed rates are now generally 240 basis points below the current benchmark rate of 5.19%. While market rates have been reduced in response to bond yields, the posted rates have not moved in line. Accordingly, would-be borrowers today are tested proportionately harder than borrowers in January of last year.
We are very encouraged to hear OSFI's assistant superintendent, Ben Gully, acknowledge the stress test gap. As we are advocates to uncouple the Bank of Canada rate from the stress test mechanism, we welcome this acknowledgement. This public sentiment, coupled with the instruction in Prime Minister Trudeau's mandate letter to Finance Minister Morneau to make the borrower stress test more dynamic, we take as a clear expression of a problem understood.
During the examination of alternatives, we asked that MPC and other senior stakeholders in the housing industry have their recommendations regarding the mortgage stress test included in the review process and their potential marketplace impact appropriately modelled.