MNI BRIEF:Canada Adds Homebuyer Incentives Amid Supply Squeeze

MNI (OTTAWA) - Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced more new homebuyer incentives as Parliament re-opens, shifting away from her previous focus on "supply, supply, supply" in one of the world's most overstretched markets while maintaining her government's policies have laid the conditions for the central bank to lower interest rates. 

Freeland Monday announced the cap for insuring mortgage borrowers without a 20% down-payment against default will grow to CAD1.5 million from CAD1 million and that 30-year amortizations will expand to all first-time buyers and buyers of newly-built properties. “We need to have Canada as a place where the dream of homeownership is alive,” she told reporters. While the Bank of Canada cut rates three times and said more are likely coming, Governor Tiff Macklem said given upside risks in housing and other services he may need to slow the pace. (See: MNI INTERVIEW: Canada Condo Dip Seen On Migrant Turn-Adviser)