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Ontario’s largest credit union is trying to kick off the spring home buying season as temperatures outside make it look like April has already arrived in some parts of the country.

The move by Meridian to offer a cut-rate deal of 1.69 per cent on a one-year mortgage — which the credit union says is the lowest for any fixed-rate product — comes just as consumers in some markets rush to buy homes before a Feb. 15 deadline that will make it harder to borrow money.

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Last year, the Liberals introduced new rules that require a down payment of 10 per cent on all mortgage amounts on homes sold for between $500,000 and $1 million, and with less than two weeks until that rule kicks in some home buyers are scurrying to purchase now.

“I just listed something that sold for considerably above what I consider fair market value,” said Michael Elmenhoff, a Toronto realtor who says a row house he thought would sell for $600,000 recently sold for an additional $50,000, and attracted more than 100 interested parties. “It’s unheard of to have that many people looking through a house in the second week of January.”