Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank all four of you for being here.
As you can see, higher costs and interest rates are a topic of considerable concern to us.
Mr. Chambers raised the matter of mortgage loans that can be amortized over a period of more than 25 years. That troubles me greatly because my sense is that the main determinant in the purchase of a house is monthly payments. If people are allowed to amortize their mortgage over a period longer than 25, 30 or 35 years, for example, that provides minor short-term relief but exacerbates the problem in the medium and long terms. When I see what's happening in Japan, where you can pay off a mortgage over three generations, I don't think that's a society I want to live in.
I have a lot of questions for you. The first concerns the first-time home buyer incentive offered by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, or CMHC. I took advantage of it many years, even decades, ago. Have you observed an increase or a decrease in the number of people applying to this program as a result of increasing borrowing costs, or has that number remained stable? How is it changing?