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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.
April 4th, 2022Committee meeting
Stuart Levings
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—perhap
April 4th, 2022Committee meeting
Stuart Levings
Finance committee That is correct, yes.
April 4th, 2022Committee meeting
Stuart Levings
Finance committee That is correct, yes. We are required to have a stress-test interest rate—which currently is at 5.25%.
April 4th, 2022Committee meeting
Stuart Levings
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.
April 4th, 2022Committee meeting
Stuart Levings
Finance committee I would agree with that.
April 4th, 2022Committee meeting
Stuart Levings
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
April 4th, 2022Committee meeting
Stuart Levings
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 rela
April 4th, 2022Committee meeting
Stuart Levings
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 genera
April 4th, 2022Committee meeting
Stuart Levings
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 on
April 4th, 2022Committee meeting
Stuart Levings
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
April 4th, 2022Committee meeting
Stuart Levings
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 an
April 4th, 2022Committee meeting
Stuart Levings
Finance committee Yes.
April 4th, 2022Committee meeting
Stuart Levings
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
April 4th, 2022Committee meeting
Stuart Levings
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 lo
April 4th, 2022Committee meeting
Stuart Levings