Federal and provincial authorities have presented a flurry of policies to tackle the housing crisis – with varying levels of success
Ottawa’s high-profile plan to buy unsold British Columbia condos has drawn plenty of skepticism from the mortgage industry – but while scrutiny of that proposal is intensifying, a prominent mortgage broker based in the province says it’s not all bad when it comes to government measures aimed at boosting housing affordability.
Eitan Pinsky (pictured top), principal broker at Pinsky Mortgages in Vancouver, told Canadian Mortgage Professional the federal government’s recent decision to increase the insured-mortgage price cap had made a noticeable difference for first-time buyers in the city’s notoriously pricey property market.
A cap increase that's been a long time coming
That change, which came into effect in December 2024, saw the limit for mortgage insurability hiked to $1.5 million, up from $1 million in a bigger raise than many industry members had anticipated.
That means buyers with a downpayment below 20% can qualify for mortgage insurance on homes worth up to that higher value, and Pinsky said the benefits of the move have been clear since its introduction.
“We’ve done quite a few of those, and that’s helped people get into their homes when purchase prices are over $1 million but under $1.5 million,” he said. “I think that was a good change, and it was warranted. It’s been a long time coming.”
The change has been significant for brokers structuring deals near that threshold, meaning that more clients can put down as little as 5% on properties that would previously have required a 20% downpayment.
Advocates of the move say that can make a big difference in expensive markets like Vancouver and Toronto, where starter homes routinely price above the $1 million mark.
The trade-off, though, is also clear. A buyer insuring a home at the full $1.5 million with a minimum downpayment faces a much steeper insurance premium, sometimes in the tens of thousands of dollars, meaning the change hasn’t entirely solved the affordability puzzle for buyers.
Still, reaction from the mortgage industry has been almost wholly positive. Mortgage Professionals Canada (MPC) had lobbied for a smaller increase, to $1.25 million indexed to inflation, before Ottawa settled on the $1.5 million figure as part of what the federal government called its boldest mortgage reforms in decades.
That same package also expanded 30-year amortizations to all first-time buyers rather than restricting it to buyers of newly constructed properties, another measure brokers credit with improving the affordability outlook for many new buyers.
Some mortgage industry members including Pinsky see the rent-to-own component of the federal and provincial authorities’ new plan for BC as a non-starter. Critics say it’s missing the mark and not getting to the root causes of the affordability and housing crisis.
Development charges welcomed, but supply gap remains
But Pinsky is more positive on another element of that plan: a proposal to help cover municipal development fees, which he said make up a disproportionate share of what new construction actually costs.
Part of the broader federal-BC agreement announced alongside the condo purchase plan is a bid to lower municipal development charges for multi-unit housing by up to 50% in target communities.
“Development fees can be up to 30% of development costs,” Pinsky told CMP. “They’re quite high.”
Still, while those proposals may be welcome, Pinsky said they’re insufficient by themselves. The more fundamental issue facing BC families, in his eyes, is a lack of larger, livable units.
“Having incentives for more livable units like three-bedroom and four-bedroom units is very needed right now in Vancouver,” he said. “You don’t have very many newly built three-bedroom and four-bedroom units.”
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