BMO tightens mortgage rules due to tariffs and the Home of the Week: Canadian real estate news for the week of Mar. 28

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This week, tariff uncertainties are now coming for your mortgage, as an unexpected group led rental statistics in Canada. Plus, the lowest fixed and variable mortgage rates in Canada and one home worth a look.

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Mortgage woes

BMO tightens mortgage rules for self-employed in ‘tariff-impacted’ steel and aluminum industry

These times of trade wars and tariff uncertainties are doing business owners in affected industries no favours, especially those who are self-employed. Now, in a move critics say will add even more obstacles during a tough time, the Bank of Montreal has tightened its mortgage lending rules for self-employed Canadians in several industries vulnerable to U.S. tariffs. As Shane Dingman writes, hundreds of thousands of self-employed Canadians working in 10 “tariff-impacted industries” — including steel and aluminum, construction and farming — that BMO believes could face a “turbulent economic landscape,” will find it harder to secure attractive lending rates, see tougher qualification rules and have less credit extended to them.

Dingman told me that these moves are really about shrinking the size of the so-called “credit box” that BMO is making available to the self-employed in these industries.

“As more sectors of the economy face tariffs and other economic pressures, you can expect that the big banks are going to readjust their underwriting to try to avoid extending loans to people with limited ability to repay,” Dingman said. “Whether this moves into the rest of the workforce is difficult to predict, but mortgage brokers remember that during COVID workers from industries disproportionately affected by shutdowns often found their loan applications were delayed, or denied. ”

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Clinging to the past

Homebuyers and sellers in Canada adjust to a new playing field

As many homebuyers and sellers are putting their plans on hold until the rest of the world stabilizes a little, property deals are actually coming together in Toronto — once both camps take a clear look at where prices actually are, not where they want them to be. As Carolyn Ireland writes, some buyers are gambling that all of the uncertainty and recession risk will put downward pressure on prices. Meanwhile, most sellers are resigned to the fact that peak prices aren’t coming back any time soon and they’ve either cut their asking price or set a more realistic one.

But despite these sales, Ireland told me that there’s still a chill over the market in general.

“There’s not much evidence of a warming trend yet,” she said. “Some agents are bracing for March sales in the Greater Toronto Area to be about as dismal as February’s, the lowest tally for that month since 1995.”

This week’s lowest fixed and variable mortgage rates in Canada

Rates shown are the lowest available for each term/type and category (insured versus uninsured) as of market close on Thursday March 27.

For rent

Move over, millennials. A third of Canada’s single renters are seniors

When you think of a single renter in Canada, you might think of a barista in their mid-to-late 20s working on their big screenplay, or a young professional saving up to buy their first home. But in reality, seniors aged 65 and older make up a third of single-person rental households, while tenants aged 25 to 34 make up only 18.5 per cent, according to a December report. As Kelsey Rolfe writes, whether seniors renting alone are doing so because of divorce or death of a spouse, downsizing in retirement, personal preference or other reasons, doing so in Canada’s pricey rental market can have implications for their financial security and retirement plans.

Home of the Week

Patience and design result in a home built to entertain

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239 Cortleigh Blvd., Toronto – Full gallery here

In 2020, Shy and Lesley Raubvogel completed the construction on their five-bedroom house in midtown Toronto — at the top of their list was an elevator, a backyard for entertaining and an open-concept kitchen. Residents and visitors arrive to a large foyer with a bench set against a velvet-panelled wall. The foyer is open to the formal dining room — which the owners say can fit 14 people, perfect for throwing dinner parties — with a fireplace and a built-in bar and wine storage. The kitchen is designed around a large range imported from France, with a pantry and an island with seating for four. In the backyard, the home has a large covered porch that serves as an outdoor room. There’s a television, a built-in barbecue and kitchen, and lots of space for lounging.