Canada Opens Mortgage Market to 30-Year Loans for Homebuyers

  • The measure will allow first-time buyers to reduce payments
  • Slow pace of building leaves Canada short of needed supply

The current 25-year limit applies to insured mortgages — loans in which the homebuyer is putting down less than 20% of the purchase price. 

Photographer: Isabella Falsetti/Bloomberg
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Canada will relax the rules on mortgages to allow first-time buyers to take out 30-year loans when they purchase newly built homes.

The change to regulations on insured mortgages come into effect on Aug. 1, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said. It’s a move that’s primarily aimed at winning over younger voters who’ve been shut out of the housing market, or squeezed by soaring prices and high interest rates.