MLN NewsStream

If you depend on a reverse mortgage for cash flow or sell them for a living, Steve Ranson has made your life better. In his quarter-century heading up Canada's first and biggest reverse mortgage company, the team he led made the product significantly less expensive, more feature-rich, less stigmatized and more widely available.

During Ranson's extraordinary tenure, Canada's reverse mortgage market grew 100x. That's not just moving the needle; that's almost breaking the gauge.
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In this exclusive interview, Ranson shares insights on:

• The biggest development in Canada's reverse market over the last five years
• The greatest challenge for reverse mortgages in the next five years
• Three reasons why reverse mortgage rates are higher than regular rates
• The impact of reverse mortgages on inheritances
• Why big banks don't sell reverse mortgages directly (yet)
• Why the company had to become a bank
• How becoming a bank helped customers
• Whether the spread between reverse and regular mortgages will narrow
• How OSFI policy keeps rates higher
• HomeEquity Bank's #1 goal (at the time he left)
• How reverse mortgages are being used to help home buyers
• Why the idea of downsizing has "gone away" in many markets
• How seniors can use reverse mortgages in a retirement planning capacity
• What percentage of borrowers don't pay off their reverse mortgage before they die
• Why HomeEquity Bank doesn't have a HELOC reverse mortgage (hint: big banks are a factor)
• The remarkable consistency of the average customer's age
• Whether we'll approach a U.S.-style reverse mortgage adoption rate
• The importance of securitization in the American reverse market
• The impact of FHA on reverse mortgages in the U.S.
• His two biggest regrets in the business
• What he's most proud of in his 27 years at HomeEquity Bank.
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That's a lot to pack into a 30-minute interview. Check out MLN's full discussion with Ranson below...

The last time 5-year fixed rates were this close to 4%, ChatGPT wasn't even a thing. And here we are, with the insured variety now as cheap as 4.19%.

With a decent U.S. PCE inflation report on Friday and #dovish# jobs data next week, 3.99% insured rates could be winking at us as soon as next month.
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Shared equity provider, Ourboro, is running a high-stakes pilot with an "A" lender (reportedly a bank). If the test is successful, it could catapult the co-ownership company to the next level and propel a new market segment. Here's why...

The world's leading central bank says it's ready to usher in the mythical creature known as "lower Fed Funds rates" to combat mounting unemployment.

And when it finally pulls the plug on its 5.375% policy rate in four weeks, the falling global rate tide could lower all boats—including Canada's.

That, not surprisingly, has implications for mortgage term selection, as laid out in this week's MLN Minute.