What mortgage rates are offered to Expats and what level of deposits are expected on residential property? When my family moves I will be 45, what mortgage lengths might I expect?

Thanks,

Giles

The same that are offered to Canadians and will depend upon your status (TWP, PR, etc.), your credit rating and how much you intend to put down.

There is nothing magical about the process, imagine you are in the UK and you won`t go too far wrong.

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Mortgages-Canada

We needed a 35% deposit as we are going to be self employed here. We were offered terms up to 35 years and took a 2 year fixed at 4.75%

In Canada there's generally no relationship to your age and the amortization period.

We just renewed with CIBC after having the mortgage with them for 5 years (fixed rate at 4.69% I think it was when we first came over) and we now have another 5 years fixed at 3.89%. It was a 25 year mortgage to begin with (we had a 50%-ish deposit) and by not changing our payment amount the reduction in interest rate means it's now dropped to an 18 year term/amortization.

We got a mortgage from RBC when we first moved here. 30% down, fixed for 5 years at 5.2%. We just renegotiated 18 months before renewal and locked in fixed for 5 years at 3.6%.

Our original mortgage was for 25 years, but due to overpayments and the renegotiation, we should have it paid off in 8...w00t!

I remortgaged 2 years ago and as luck would have it, secured a discounted mortgage 0.82% below prime. I believe that gives me an effective rate of 2.18% at present. Needless to say, we retained our payment at a higher level to get it paid down quicker.

It used to be that New to Canada was a 30% down but that has changed in the past couple of years. You can now get a mortgage with as little as 5% down (with mortgage insurance of course) through Genworth.

I do not know if our other mortgage insurer, CHMC, offers the same.

Anyways, Genworth has info for newbies to explain the system.

http://www.genworth.ca/homeownership...new_canada.asp

Hope that this is helpful

They seem willing to insure what are basically sub-prime mortgages. 95% at 35 years... only a complete idiot would take out such a loan.

Other than those with an extraordinary amount of equity, how does the 'average' punter afford a place in Vancouver without taking such a mortgage? Or Calgary, or parts of Toronto?

OK, so most of us believe that buying a house is a good investment in our futures. We pay the mortgage down in 25 years or so and the place appreciates in value. In our dotage we can downsize and release equity or at the very least live mortgage or rent free. How does the prospective average income Vancouverite manage this though without resorting to a toxic mortgage?

Renting is an option, and from the comment I've seen here, rents are comparitively cheap compared to buying in Van. But renting for 25 years precludes building up any equity in the asset that is your home. And rents aren't low enough to leave much additional spare cash to put in your RRSP over and above the 3-5% most contribute.

Genuinely interested. Have no intention to live in Van and property prices would be a big part of that.

The simple fact is they don't. Many people who live and work in Vancouver who own property are basically indentured slaves working for for the sole purpose of paying interest to banks.

There was a news story the other day about how in Vancouver, the school board is going to close some schools because there aren't enough kids in them - parents are very angry about it. On the other hand, in nearby Surrey, there aren't enough places for the kids and so no schools will close. It's obvious to me that real estate prices are directly responsible for this - but said angry parents who own property don't want to hear that.

Oh, idiot over here then. I usually finance 95% of a house and usually over 35 years. I even bought one with a 101% mortgage over 35 years. It's that, win the lottery, or rent, innit?

Leaving aside the suspicion that your accountant seems to have weaved an impenetrable web of intrigue around your financial situatoin, there seems to be an option missing. Oh, yes. Buy somewhere you can afford, that's it.

I'm sitting in a house I can afford, new to me (only half mine, mind) I rather like it and I especially like the low cost of it. "I can afford" meaning the payments are less than the car insurance, not that I have the cash to snap it up outright. It's mortgaged 95% or so over, I think, 35 years, maybe 30, I didn't pay that much attention. I won't pay it off but I didn't find it advantageous to have paid off a house when interest was 17%, it certainly doesn't matter to do so at 3%. I don't see at all that having a tiny amount of equity in one's abode makes less sense than having none.