MLN NewsStream

AI search will increasingly displace traditional search in the year ahead, which could have seismic implications for mortgage pros dependent on organic traffic.

Savvy marketers must adapt their strategies or risk becoming as relevant as a fax machine at a fintech lender.

Here's a look at how much mortgage search has changed and where it's going, according to the top subject matter experts MLN follows. At the end is a roadmap for survival in 2025's digital battleground.

If you know a mortgage borrower who's in trouble, they may be wondering what lenders can do for them. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) says popular lender relief measures for mortgagors seeking salvation include:

The new federal stress test exception on uninsured straight switches has been one of the most confusing regulatory changes in recent memory. Following its November 21 launch, lenders and mortgage pros were left wondering everything from whether mortgage finance companies were allowed to use the exemption to whether it applied to collateral charges to what the minimum allowable stress test rate was.

We seem to grumble about incomplete federal guideline announcements every time there's a federal guideline announcement. Yet, they keep coming. Regulators refuse to let trusted mortgage professionals preview embargoed policy releases to help avoid needless industry confusion.

Policymakers aren't the only ones playing hide-and-seek with clarity. Three months after OSFI's MQR exemption announcement for straight switches, many lenders remain mysteriously silent on their stress test guidelines. That's despite the fact that virtually every originator—plus numerous borrowers with TDS ratios north of 44%—wants to know who supports the measure.

Tucked into the Liberals' Fall Economic Statement was a nugget about promoting long-term mortgages in Canada. Specifically, the Liberals said they plan to launch "consultations on the market development of long-term mortgages in Canada" (assuming their government lasts long enough to do it).

This initiative is nothing groundbreaking. Policy architects have entertained the idea of improving long-term mortgage options for years. It keeps coming up for two reasons:

In a win for lenders and consumers alike, the government is amending the mortgage insurance rules to eliminate its mortgage stress test on low-ratio (a.k.a. "bulk insured") mortgages that switch from a federally regulated lender to any other lender at renewal.

The move, which is effective today, December 16, lets insurable borrowers with higher #GDS#/#TDS# ratios play the field at renewal. These low-ratio mortgagors can now switch to the most competitive lenders and qualify at the contract rate instead of their contract rate plus 200 bps (or 5.25%, whichever is higher).

The change is significant for renewing borrowers who were trapped by the stress test. The reason is, the insurable rates they'll now have access to are often better than:

(A) uninsured rates (especially on lower LTV loans), and
(B) low-ratio renewal offers.

That said, lenders we speak to don't expect tremendous uptake, given high customer retention rates and increasingly competitive renewal offers.

The fine print