MLN NewsStream

Anyone who cares about property values needs to care about population values. When household formation outpaces housing formation, real estate markets fly as high as a kite, and vice versa.

Since the Liberals announced their non-permanent resident (NPR) cutbacks in March, it's thrown population growth estimates into chaos. Now we're all playing 'Guess the Population' like it's the Price is Right.

Come fall, the government will drop its final NPR estimates. The Immigration Minister's stated goal is to limit temporary residents to 5% of the population by 2027. That's got every Tom, Dick, and Housing Analyst playing fortune-teller with Canada's headcount.

To cut through the noise, we spoke with economist Tony Stillo from Oxford Economics on Tuesday. He shared new insights from his recent paper, which concluded that:

"As soon as we give someone a mortgage they’re thinking about ways to get out of it." — Yousry Bissada, Home Trust CEO

In today's low-volume mortgage market, brokers are hunting leads like they're the last slice of pizza at a frat party. Home Trust CEO Yousry Bissada has ideas to help. In this exclusive one-on-one, he shares two niches that'll increasingly drive volume for astute mortgage marketers.

Bissada, one of the most straight-shooting CEOs (and all-around good guys) in this business, also drops insights on:

• What's holding back mortgage volumes
• How OSFI's new Loan-to-Income limit could play out (including potential rate premiums)
• Open banking as a game changer for deposits
• An autopsy on the death of prime lending at Home Trust.

Virtually every mortgage pro in Canada does some kind of suitability assessment before recommending a mortgage. But there are vast differences in how effectively they analyze client circumstances, compare financing options and make fitting recommendations.

Some regulators, like Ontario's FSRA, mandate comprehensive suitability assessments. Other regulators imply it. And some provinces make little mention of suitability at all.

But regardless of the law, suitability assessments aren't just about covering your backside. Done right, they can give brokers a sales and marketing edge that draws referrals and boosts revenue. Here's how.

Aside from CPI, employment data are typically the biggest routine driver of mortgage rates. And on Friday, StatsCan dealt borrowers a good hand on job numbers, at least from a rate perspective.

For the full rundown, skim through MLN's latest Mortgage Memo. To summarize, unemployment accelerated to a multi-year high of 6.4%, and job creation took another nap, with an estimated 1,400 jobs slipping away in June.

Rebecca Oakes, VP of Advanced Analytics at Equifax Canada, is a data maven. She deciphers credit trends like Doyle Brunson deciphered tells at a poker table. We caught up with her last week for a helping of mortgage insights. Here's what she served up...