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There's now one less direct-to-consumer (DTC) mortgage provider in Canada. Questrade's online mortgage division has officially gone offline.

It lasted a whole 30 months—shorter than most car leases.
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In a significant win for consumers, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) has kicked the stress test to the curb for straight switches of uninsured mortgages.

Here's what Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland just said about the minimum default-insured down payment on $1,000,000 to $1,499,999.99 homes starting December 15, 2024:

Scotiabank, the '800-pound gorilla' of mortgage broker lenders, is making it more challenging to get its Scotia Total Equity Plan (STEP) readvanceable mortgage. And that leaves a product gap for both brokers and Scotia retail reps.

What a week for the real estate market. Another week like this, and your earnest author might have to hang up his keyboard and get a realty license.

Just fooling, of course, those lockboxes are too tricky. Nonetheless, before this week, many had been worrying about home prices breaking down, given that 75 bps of cuts didn't work as advertised. Fortunately, this week's developments (insurance loosening, sub-2% inflation and the Fed cut) are just what real estate doctors ordered.