Stats from CMHC’s Consumer Survey

Good Afternoon Amazing Partners,

In today’s post

1. Interest Rates

2. CMHC’s Consumer Survey

*Please call us! 778-990-8950 We’re willing to help even if the borrower is not our client. We’re in this for your success!

Interest Rates*
*Rates as at May 14, 2024. Subject to change without notice.

5 Yr Fixed (insured)	4.74%	–		3 Yr Fixed (insured)	4.99%	–
5 Yr Fixed	4.74%	–		3 Yr Fixed	5.14%	↓ 0.10%
5 Yr Variable (insured)	6.15%	–		2 Yr Fixed (insured)	5.64%	↓ 0.05%
5 Yr Variable	6.20%	–		2 Yr Fixed	5.99%	–
4 Yr Fixed (insured)	4.99%	↓ 0.10%		1 Yr Fixed (insured)	6.54%	–
4 Yr Fixed	5.04%	–		1 Yr Fixed	6.59%	–

Interesting Stats from the CMHC Consumer Survey

You can find the entire report here.

15% of Canadians have undergone a mortgage transaction in the last 18 months.
This is anyone who renewed, refinanced, or purchased a new property.

Of these, 

-18% were home buyers, 

-19% refinances, and

-63% renewal/transfers.

And, of the mortgage transactions, 23% of them were for rental properties.

For those purchasing, the top reasons for buying were:

32% – Needed a larger home (upsize)

34% – Change in living situation

34% – Had accumulated enough down payment or were financially ready

36% – Thought that a home is a safe and secure investment

34% – Had greater stability in living situation.

Of First Time Home Buyers:

71% were renting before buying their first home

29% were living with family

Co-living is becoming more popular:

22% of people share a home with an adult without collecting rent

15% of people share a home with an adult and collects rent from that adult

59% do not share a home with an adult outside of their family

Of all purchases, 12% were purchased with an adult family member (read parents buying with children).

*At first glance I would have thought this would be higher but it makes sense based on our own numbers with 1/10 people having parents cosign. The vast majority of the time, parents give large down payments over cosigning…

So far, in 2024, 38% of homebuyers were involved in bidding wars. It was 41% and 44% in 2023 and 2022 respectively. IE, bidding wars are going down.

Realtors are considered the most valued person in the home buying process.

In 2024, the proportion of homebuyers who paid the maximum price they could afford was 46% (same as 2023).

In Canada, 32% of buyers required mortgage loan insurance. However, this is much more muted in BC and Ontario. I would say it’s closer to 15% or less in Vancouver.

Roughtly 30% of home buyers received a partial or full gift for down payment.

Interestingly, almost double those that used the FHSA used RRSP. There’s not enough people using the FHSA…

Of the gifted money, the average gift was $77,487

Going on with the FHSA, the awareness of the FHSA is 71% amongst first time home buyers, but only 33% of these buyers actually participated in it.

*I think it’s early still. The FHSA has basically only been out for about a year…

Now this is interesting… 36% of home buyers incurred unexpected expenses during the home buying process…

**Repairs are the largest expense… Surprising to me that lawyer fees are a large portion here. 

Of those who had expenses, the vast majority used savings to pay for the expenses, but some (39%) used credit of some sort…

Of those who got a mortgage, 48% used a mortgage broker. But it’s been pretty even throughout the years…

If someone was to switch from one lender to another, the major reason was (41%) better interest rates.

79% of mortgage consumers believe that homeownership is a good long-term financial investment

64% of consumers said that they didn’t change their timeline to purchasing due to the interest rates.

-22% said they purchased sooner due to current interest rates

-13% said they postponed their purchase due to current rates.

42% of mortgage consumers are experiencing difficulties in maintaining payment of debt…

-24% say credit card debt is difficult to pay

-14% say mortgage payments are difficult…

-9% and 9% say cell phones and utility bills are hard to pay.

-54% of mortgage consumers have no difficulty maintaining their debts…

69% of mortgage consumers chose a fixed rate over a variable rate.

– 23% picked variable

– 5% picked a combination and 3% don’t know… seriously? How can you not know..?

45% of mortgage consumers renovated their home in the past 3 years and 69% plan on doing so in the next 5 years.

– Average budget in the past 3 years has been over $22K

– Expected renovation budget in the next 5 years will be $21,400.

Thanks for reading!!!