The Weekly 411:

Today we're covering

🏡 30-Year Mortgages for New Home Buyers

💰 RRSP Withdrawal Limit Doubles for First-Time Buyers

🏗 Canada Needs 1.3M More Homes by 2030

🤠 Calgary Home Prices Surge 15% in One Year

🥳 Renters Can Now Boost Their Credit Score

Read Time: 2 minutes

🏡 30-Year Mortgages for New Home Buyers

• Canada's Finance Minister announced today that first-time homebuyers can obtain 30-year mortgages on newly built homes (effective August 1st).

• While monthly payments are lower, the total interest paid over the life of a 30-year mortgage will be higher than a 25-year option.

Why This Matters: 

• With lower monthly payments, more first-time buyers will qualify for slightly larger mortgages, increasing the range of homes they can afford.

💰 RRSP Withdrawal Limit Doubles for First-Time Buyers

• The maximum RRSP withdrawal for first-time homebuyers doubles to $60,000 (effective April 16th).

• Buyers who used the RRSP withdrawal program between Jan 2022 and Dec 2025 gain extended repayment flexibility (up to 5 years).

🏗 Canada Needs 1.3M More Homes by 2030

• The recent Parliamentary Budget report finds Canada needs to build an additional 1.3 million homes by 2030 to match historical vacancy rates.

• To close the housing gap, Canada must increase construction by 181,000 homes per year compared to current levels.

• It's also reported that 3.5 million additional homes will be needed to restore affordability.

Why This Matters:  If the housing supply doesn't keep pace with demand, it could further drive up property values, benefiting residential property owners for at least the next decade.

🚫 Money Laundering Crackdown at Canadian Banks & Brokerages

• Canada's financial watchdog (FinTRAC) uncovered widespread failures to follow anti-money laundering laws in banks and real estate companies.

• Out of 237 financial institutions audited, only 106 were compliant

• 78% of banks didn't have adequate systems to identify criminals or sanctioned individuals.​

• 61 real estate firms had incomplete policies, and almost half failed basic client identification requirements.

• It's estimated that $40-$130 billion is laundered annually through Canada.

🤠 Calgary Home Prices Surge 15% in One Year

• Calgary experienced the largest home price increase in Alberta between 2023 and 2024, with prices rising 15.1%.

• Medicine Hat is the second most expensive community in Alberta, seeing a 14% price increase.

• Other major Alberta cities, including Edmonton, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Grande Prairie, and Fort McMurray, also saw significant home price increases.

Why It Matters: The surge in Alberta home prices is attributed to limited supply and high demand fueled by population growth. Falling interest rates will also make mortgages more affordable, further increasing buyer activity.

🥳 Renters Can Now Boost Their Credit Score

• The new Canadian Renters' Bill of Rights requires credit bureaus to consider rent payments when calculating credit scores.

• Renters will be able to share their rent payment history directly with Equifax.

• Rent reporting can lead to an average credit score increase of 5% (around 32 points)