| Qualifying Rate | 5.14% |
| Prime Rate | 3.00% |
| Next BOC Mtg. | Mar 8 |
Just 10 days remain to nominate the industry’s top mortgage brokers, brokerages, underwriters, BDMs, community service volunteers, and even your favourite mortgage website.
Canadian Mortgage Professional (CMP) has 21 award categories in all this year.
This is its nomination link.
Folks can make their selections until Friday February 24 at 5pm EST.
After finalists are chosen, winners will then be announced at CMP’s gala ceremony on June 1 in Toronto.
The implications of CIBC selling FirstLine, if and when it happens, are manifold.
At this point, it can’t definitively be said whether CIBC will leave a foot in the broker channel.
Assuming it doesn’t, here’s our stream of consciousness on what this means…
Continue reading "Thoughts on the Potential FirstLine Sale" »
We have heard from multiple reputable sources that CIBC has put its broker-lending subsidiary, FirstLine Mortgages, up for sale.
Upon sale, one of our sources states that CIBC will then exit the broker channel.
Continue reading "Breaking News: CIBC to Reportedly Sell FirstLine" »
Jim Murphy, president of the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals (CAAMP), was in Ottawa today.
He had a series of meetings with members of the House of Commons Finance Committee and with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s office.
CAAMP has been providing data to the government to assist in its review of the mortgage finance system.
Threats to the status quo are forcing mortgage professionals to re-evaluate their business methods. That’s the general theme of two recent webinars hosted by industry trainer Greg Williamson.
Williamson interviewed two mortgage executives in the past week:
Here are quotes from those individuals that mortgage players may find noteworthy…
Continue reading "Mortgage Industry Leaders Speak About Competition" »
One of the most evident trends in financial services is the growing demand for reverse mortgages.
HomEquity Bank confirmed that trend (again) by posting a 42% year-over-year surge in Q4 reverse mortgage volume.
President and CEO Steven Ranson commented: “…The (seniors demographic) wave is here…tremendous market demand is fuelling our strong growth in originations.”
Continue reading "CHIP Reverse Mortgage Volumes Not Surprising to Some" »
Industrial Alliance (IA) consistently leads the mortgage rate market. At the moment, it has the lowest (or near lowest) rates on 2-, 3-, 4- and 5-year fixed terms.
Its mortgages are more restrictive than most, but if you’re the type of person who will sell a kidney to save 10 basis points, you’ll certainly find its rates enticing.
Here’s the thing. IA mortgages are primarily available through brokers and, unfortunately, IA doesn’t deal with all brokers.
For those who are not on its list, NEXSYS Financial offers an extremely valuable service that lets brokers submit through it.
How important is client satisfaction to a mortgage broker? The answer is in this stat:
A whopping 82% of broker clients find out about their broker via referral. (Source: Maritz/CAAMP)
Existing clients are gold. As a broker, they’re our best source of new business. That’s why it pays to take care of and invest in them.
Scotiabank has long been an investor-friendly lender. But recently, Scotia Mortgage Authority (SMA) made its rental financing program notably more restrictive.
SMA now:
On a positive note, SMA says it has loosened its net worth requirement on rental applications (which is now 10% of each property’s value, up to $50,000 per property).
David Stafford, Managing Director, Real Estate Secured Lending, told us about Scotia’s logic in making these changes.
Brokerage firm Mortgage Intelligence (MI) has just attracted some big hitters from Mortgage Architects (MA).
The principals involved include veteran MA producers Marg Green, Donna Ramsay and Steve Heimbecker.
This team is moving to MI as an “affiliate” and forming a new boutique mortgage brokerage called Concierge Mortgage Group.
The group reports combined annual volume of roughly $300 million, making it one of the bigger broker teams in the country, and a big win for Invis/MI. Here's MI's press release.
It seems the rumours about ResMor shopping around its mortgage operations are true.
We’ve heard for months that various parties were vying for its mortgage business. Now it’s been confirmed that MCAP is acquiring it.
The story for consumers and brokers is that we lose another lender option.
The story for MCAP is that they pick up a great (and very profitable) servicing portfolio, as well as some in’s with ResMor’s loyal broker following.
CMP reports that Pacific Mortgage Group is merging its two brokerages. It cites a leaked internal email that suggests MortgageBrokers.com (MB.com) will fold into Mortgage Architects (MA).
If this goes through:
Continue reading "CMP: MortgageBrokers.com & Mortgage Architects to Merge" »
Some quick facts on the just-lanched Mortgage Broker Association of Atlantic Canada (MBAAC).
Purpose: “The purpose of the association is to offer a regional voice for the mortgage broker industry, rooted here in Atlantic Canada,” Founder and President Glen Ward told CMT. The board will work to establish a standard of ethics and also handle industry-related complaints in the region.
Important Goals: Ward says the group’s goal is to help foster public trust in working with mortgage brokers, while also serving as a local source for continuing education for both new and seasoned brokers.
Sunday was Day One of the CAAMP Mortgage Forum in Toronto. It’s the industry’s biggest convention, with 1,600+ attendees coming from around the country to learn and network.
As usual, we were on a quest for any notable lender developments and new products. Here’s a rundown of some of the action…
It’s tough being a small lender in a scale business like mortgages. Davis + Henderson’s latest market share report reflects that.
The top 10 lenders are increasingly dominating the mortgage broker channel. Their share of the pie has climbed for at least three consecutive quarters and now stands at a lofty 84% (up from just under 80% in Q4).
Broker volume has also grown. Mortgage brokers funded 10% more volume in Q3 compared to the same quarter last year.
The mortgage market is clearly alive and well despite all those dreary housing forecasts last fall. (Ultra low rates will do that for you…)
In the text that follows, we run down the notable lender performances this past quarter. These figures are unconfirmed but come from sources we believe to be reliable.
Counsel Corporation's acquisition of mortgage lender Street Capital is paying off.
Street originated over $1 billion in mortgages in the third quarter, generating $3.5 million in profit for its parent.
"The acquisition of Street Capital has provided a major boost to our top and bottom line," said Allan Silber, Chairman and CEO of Counsel, in this press release.
Continue reading "Street Capital Makes $3.5 Million for Counsel" »
It’s that time of year again, time when CAAMP releases the most anticipated mortgage research of the year.
Its latest State of the Residential Mortgage Market in Canada report is fresh off the presses and brimming with tidbits for mortgage data buffs.
In CAAMP's media release today, President and CEO Jim Murphy expressed optimism at the steps Canadians have taken over the past year to get their fiscal house in order.
“Despite less than positive feelings towards the economy, or maybe because of that, Canadians are showing a level of prudence in their decisions that is inspiring,” said Murphy. "A vast majority of mortgage holders has considerable capacity to afford rises in mortgage interest rates."
“That suggests to us that there is no need for policy makers to introduce new measures that would reduce housing activity.”
That said, CAAMP noted that there is still a "sizable minority" of 650,000 households who would be "challenged" by rate increases of less than 1%. (Side note: If you've got a mortgage and can't handle a 1% rate increase, maybe it's time to start looking for a good rental?)
In any case, what follows is a closer look at all the data. As usual, our comments are in italics and this time we've highlighted what we found to be extra-noteworthy stats...
Continue reading "CAAMP's Mortgage Market Report - Fall 2011" »
Brokers often contact lenders to confirm guidelines before placing a mortgage. That frequently involves waiting for a lender rep to call or email back.
The problem is that waiting isn’t always an option. At the very least, waiting is frustrating—especially when a mortgage deal is time sensitive.
MCAP’s new Deal Run help line addresses that problem, and makes us wonder why all lenders don’t offer a comparable service.
While flipping through some old news from the prior month we noticed that AGF Trust saw a 154% jump in loan originations last quarter. It was thanks largely to its Verico mortgage distribution partnership.
That partnership, which launched in January 2011, gives Verico brokers an exclusive co-branded mortgage and trailer-fee compensation structure. AGF Trust plans to expand this program to other partners and it's got surplus resources to do it. “A substantial capital base relative to current lending assets will…support our efforts to grow our mortgage book,” the company stated in its latest financials.
Here’s the latest on the CIBC IRD penalty class action:
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