The government should hold off on wide-ranging down payment and amortization changes, says Peter Aceto, ING Direct’s CEO.

While conceding that some of Canada’s real estate markets may be “irrational,” he said this to the Globe & Mail:

• “I worry about government-based tightening of the mortgage rules creating…too fast of a cooling, which is not really good for anyone.”
• “The banks in this country don’t have to lend to the limit of the law – they can make smart rules on their own and not have Minister Flaherty make the decision for them.”

Scotia Capital, in a separate Globe interview, said Canada will “face even greater risk of a price bubble popping” if “abrupt rule changes” are imposed as home prices correct naturally.

The Globe’s been giving this topic a lot of play lately. Here’s yet a another editorial asserting that a mortgage rule crackdown is unneeded.