Stretched buyers fuel boom in housing: Engine behind the country’s housing boom has been increasingly leveraged first-time buyers
By Tavia Grant
Globe and Mail
April 23, 2008
Canada may not have the sizable subprime market of the U.S., but the engine behind the country’s housing boom has been increasingly leveraged first-time buyers.
Legions of first-timers are adding years of extra mortgage payments so they can buy a house, or putting little or no money into a down payment, a Re/Max survey revealed yesterday. Nearly two-thirds of buyers in major centres now favour extended amortization periods of up to 40 years, while putting little or no money down was prevalent in 38 per cent of regional markets surveyed across Canada.
