Finance committee  I would agree. It's really around zoning and allowing for that break away from that single-detached family zoning only. That's at the heart of the matter, and that's understandably a challenging one, but it's what needs to happen.

Finance committee  I'll take a crack at that. I think the quick answer is that absolutely it's had an impact. That is what we saw in this moving out into these farther-flung suburbs. It was really to acquire more space, to acquire a single detached type of home where one could have somebody—perhaps even a couple—working from home, and maybe even children at home while their school was virtual.

Finance committee  That is correct, yes.

Finance committee  That is correct, yes. We are required to have a stress-test interest rate—which currently is at 5.25%.

Finance committee  The risk of default is lower due to interest rates rising than due to unemployment rising, yes. I think the bigger issue to do with interest rates is the impact they have on the affordability side, meaning the buying power of buyers, particularly first-time homebuyers.

Finance committee  I would agree with that.

Finance committee  I would say that there is absolutely a focus on climate change in our business and our industry. The focus relates to what it means for housing, naturally, and what it means for house values, because that is a clear driver of our businesses overall. The issue that comes up is on insurability of homes.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. I would say this. The obvious first catalyst was the point you made around the sudden pullback in what was available from CMHC. We have had a very long run in the industry in Canada. We've been around for more than 25 years and have very strong relationships with all our lenders and have always aspired to provide excellent customer service.

Finance committee  That's a very difficult question to answer. I would say that we do believe that our customers have tremendous faith in us as a counterparty, given the level of capital we hold and the rigour and discipline with which we originate mortgages. I would say that Canadians, in general, have come to understand a lot more about the mortgage finance market and the players therein just because of the absolute amount of focus that's been put on this industry over the last many years.

Finance committee  Competition is important, and we value competition. We think it's good for consumers. It helps to keep us all on our toes. I would argue that we're all—at least the track record would suggest—responsible competitors, and I would suggest that there is a role for CMHC to play as one of those competitors.

Finance committee  Yes, I would concur with those comments. The slogan we heard a lot of was that people would “drive till they qualify”, and that was really an indication of how, as you get farther and farther out of the major centres, the prices start to come down. Buyers were forced to move out along the major highways to find a community that they could afford to live in.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  We certainly do look there from time to time, and it varies, of course, by region. There's this notion that there's a Canadian housing market when in reality there is no Canadian national housing market. Each region is very unique and specific. In the major centres, Toronto and Vancouver, they compare very similarly to the major centres in the U.S. for the same reasons.

Finance committee  Maybe I'll start with that one. The way we think about it is that a lot of investor activity tends to focus on condominiums and, as a result, we, and I would argue our lenders, think about the condominium type of property as a very different animal. When you have situations like that, where a particular investor owns a number of units and something goes wrong—either rates are rising and they can't service the debt anymore or there's an exodus of renters and there are vacancies—we tend to see more of a bulk selling, which does put downward pressure on prices.

Finance committee  I would just add that in our regular discussions with lenders, the dialogue often centres around what other precautions we are taking in our business, given that we do take the low-down-payment mortgages, and what measures we are taking on how we value properties. There is a lot of back and forth, and I would argue that lenders are thoughtful about the environment and how best to mitigate that risk.