The Facts About the Mortgage Market in Canada For Prospective Homeowners

The facts about the mortgage market in Canada is that in the last forty years, it has undergone substantial changes. Depository institutions account for the majority of the market holding 69 percent of outstanding Canadian residential mortgage debt by the end of-2007. By the end of 2008, CAD 566 billion or 62 percent of the CAD 906 billion outstanding residential mortgage debt in Canada was held by depository institutions. The main reason for the growth in the bank share was due to the 1992 Bank Act changes, which permitted banks to own trust and loan companies that had been dominant players in the market. Prior to 1954, banks were not permitted to make mortgage loans. However gradually from the 1954 Bank Act amendments and thereafter, laws allowed banks an expanding share in the market over time. Yet, until 1992 conventional mortgages value could only be below 10 percent of bank deposits. Mortgage brokers have played a growing role in the market.