If you’re a rookie homebuyer in British Columbia, odds are you’ll choose a mortgage with a 40-year amortization. That’s apparently what it takes for most 1st-timers to qualify these days. 25-years, the long-time standard, no longer cuts the mustard.
BC is Canada’s #1 province for 40-year and high-ratio (< 20% down) mortgages. That’s largely because their $452,810 average home price is highest in the nation.
Moreover, Andrey Pavlov of Simon Fraser U. says 40-year amortizations are supporting house prices there. Without them, he says, prices would fall.
Frightening thought!