Changes to the Stress Test and What You Need to Know

As you may have heard, the Bank of Canada recently changed the stress test rules as of June 1, 2021. With these changes, now both insured and uninsured mortgage borrowers will be subject to a stricter stress test when qualifying for their mortgage. The new qualifying rate on uninsured mortgages – where the down payment is 20% or more – is now the contracted rate plus two percentage points or 5.25%, whichever is higher. This means that any buyer whose down payment on a home is one-fifth of the purchase price or higher must show they can afford the mortgage payments if the interest rate was two percentage points higher than what the bank is offering, or the new five-year benchmark rate per the Bank of Canada. Overall, the implementation of these tougher stress test rules will reduce buying power by roughly 4-5% for borrowers. To help illustrate how this change affects you, consider the following scenario with $100,000 gross income: The previous stress test at 4.79% would give this individual the ability to borrow $469,530 (based on good credit score with max GDS/TDS qualifications at 39/44%). Now, with the current scenario of 5.25% stress test rate, the they can now only borrow $448,880 (based on good credit score with max GDS/TDS at 39/44%). This is a difference of $20,650 which reduces your home options. To ensure you are searching in the right price range and budgeting accordingly, it is important to consider this stress test change. If you are looking to purchase your first home or move, please don’t hesitate to contact me today for a better understanding of the rules and what you qualify for.