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Veteran mortgage broker Vince Gaetano figures the residential housing market this Christmas might be the busiest holiday season ever as people make one last push to squeeze into the housing market before tighter mortgage restrictions come into effect.

But it could also be the last gasp for the resale market. Changes coming from the federal banking regulator on Jan. 1, 2018, take dead aim at a section of the market that until now has been mostly exempt from government regulation: low-ratio buyers, or people with down payments of 20 per cent or more.

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Starting next year, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions will require those prospective homebuyers to qualify based on either the Bank of Canada posted rate for the five-year fixed rate product or two percentage points above their contracted mortgage rate, whichever is higher.

“We are going to see people trying to get the maximum available,” said Gaetano, a principal at monstermortgage.ca, which is one of the largest independent mortgage brokers still in the market. “If my wife has anything to do with it, I will be taking off Christmas, but I have this feeling we are going to be busy.”