The Internet is a vital tool for mortgage shoppers, but many in our industry don’t realize what a powerful force it’s become.
According to CMHC, almost 9 out of 10 first-time homebuyers use the Internet to research mortgages.
That’s a resounding statistic and it shows how valuable a top 10 Google position is for web-centric mortgage marketers.
This is one of several data insights found in the new 2010 CMHC Mortgage Consumer Survey.
Below are other key findings from the report…
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Lender Loyalty
- 88% of renewers stayed with their current lender when renewing. (Many of them simply signed their renewal letter without shopping around—the cardinal sin of mortgages.)
- 70% of refinancers stayed with their current lender when refinancing.
- 58% of repeat buyers stayed with the same lender when obtaining their new mortgage.
- 46% of first-time buyers got their mortgage with a financial institution they already did business with.
Mortgage Broker Market Share
- 45% of first-time buyers used a mortgage broker.
- 33% of repeat buyers used a mortgage broker.
- 23% of refinancers used a mortgage broker.
- 13% of renewers used a mortgage broker.
Miscellaneous
- 77% agree that now is a good time to purchase a home.
- 70% of recent homebuyers spent at least six months planning their home purchase.
- 81% of homebuyers are comfortable with their current level of mortgage debt.
- 71% of first-time buyers used their own resources for their down payment.
- 27% of recent homebuyers have made a lump-sum pre-payment or increased their regular payment since taking out their mortgage.
- 4 out of 5 mortgage holders have 25-year amortization or less.
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Survey details: The above data comes from a CMHC survey performed from February 11th to 28th, 2010. The survey was conducted online with 2,503 recent mortgage consumers. CMHC has published the survey since 1999.
Last modified: April 28, 2014
