Canada's New Rules On Financing Of Insured Mortgages

On February 10, the Federal Government published final regulations amending both the Insurable Housing Loan Regulations under the National Housing Act (Canada) (NHA)¹ (applicable to mortgage loans insured by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)) and the Eligible Mortgage Loan Regulations under the Protection of Residential Mortgage or Hypothecary Insurance Act (applicable to mortgage loans insured by licensed private mortgage insurers).^{2 3} Since the amendments to both regulations are nearly identical, we will refer to them collectively as the "Final Regulations." The Final Regulations are currently in force.

We previously discussed draft versions of the Final Regulations that had been published in the Canada Gazette on June 6, 2015 (the Draft Regulations) in our earlier bulletin dated June 10, 2015 entitled " New Rules on Financing of Insured Mortgages Could Have Far Reaching Impact." While the Final Regulations also implemented stricter down-payment