The times they are a-changing, and hardly anyone seems to care.
New regulations regarding home mortgages and the refinancing of existing homes come into effect today.
The federal government has shortened the length of time over which a mortgage can be amortized and also reduced the amount homeowners can obtain when refinancing an existing home.
The amortization period was reduced from 35 years to 30 years, while the maximum amount a homeowner access through refinancing has dropped from 90 per cent to 85 per cent.
Some may have expected a rush to market from first-time home buyers and a similar push to refinance existing homes but the new regulations seem to have had little effect.
"I did have one refinancing we had to complete this week, to beat the new regulations. But really it's been fairly normal for us," said The Mortgage Group's Nola Stairs.
Those sentiments were echoed by first-time home buyer Nicole Gibson and notary public Linda Manning.
Gibson said they have been in their new home just two and half weeks, but it wasn't the change in amortization and resultant increase in monthly payments which drove her into the market.
"We were more worried about the rumours of interest rates going up. We wanted to get in [at an affordable rate]."
Manning suggested the five-year reduction in amortization was almost not worth worrying about.
"It's not a large enough amount of money to make that much difference," she said.
The changing the amortization terms from 35 years to 30 years amounts to between $96 and $110 per month - depending on interest rate - on a $300,000 mortgage.
Manning did foresee some economic impact from the tougher regulations.
"II think home renovations might be affected by this. If people can't refinance their homes as easily, I could see less renovations being done," she said.
The change in lending regulations came about as a partial response to the collapse in the U.S. housing market and to the worrying amount of debt being carried by Canadians.
But both Stairs and Manning feel the real problem is unsecured credit, not mortgage or refinancing debt.
"I think the real issue is unsecured lines of credit. Many people have a worrying amount of unsecured debt through lines of credit and credit cards," said Manning.
Stairs agreed, laying some of the blame at the feet of the banking industry.
"The problem isn't with with most homeowners. The problem is it's too easy to get credit. Banks need to be more responsible."
