Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) released its third quarter financial results today as well as supplemental data on the Corporation’s Mortgage Loan Insurance, Securitization, and Covered Bonds business activities.

CMHC’s mortgage loan insurance and securitization guarantee programs operate on a commercial basis without support from Canadian taxpayers. During the quarter, CMHC generated $331 million in net income from these activities.

Report Highlights

• During the third quarter, CMHC facilitated access to mortgage financing by providing mortgage loan insurance for 127,991 units across the country, up 26.8% from the same period last year.
• At September 30, 2016, the size of CMHC’s mortgage insurance business was $514 billion in total insurance-in-force, a $9 billion decrease from the previous quarter. This is still well below CMHC’s legislated insurance-in-force limit of $600 billion.
• The average equity Canadian homeowners hold in their property also increased slightly in the third quarter to 34.8% from 34.4% in the previous quarter.
• Homebuyers with CMHC-insured mortgages have a strong ability to manage their debts as supported by an average credit score of 751 for transactional homeowner loans and an average gross debt service (GDS) ratio of 25.7% for the three-months ended September 30, 2016.
• The strength of CMHC’s portfolio is reflected in the overall arrears rate which, as at September 30, 2016, stood at 0.32%, unchanged from the previous quarter. Total number of loans in arrears was 8,286 as at September 30, 2016.
• New securities guaranteed for the third quarter totalled $43.1 billion, comprised of $32.9 billion for market NHA MBS and $10.2 billion for CMB.

Consistent with our mandate, CMHC is present in all markets and through all economic cycles.

CMHC also works closely with provinces, territories and housing providers, including First Nations, to help low-income Canadians access affordable, better quality housing. For the three-month period ended September 30, 2016, CMHC provided more than $531 million for housing programs on behalf of the Government of Canada.