Higher priced Edmonton homes will soon require a bigger down payment
Five per cent down payment will no longer be enough on homes worth more than $500,000
That fancy new Edmonton home you've got your eye on may be out of reach come February.
That's when the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation will begin demanding a 10 per cent down payment on the portion of any mortgage it insures over $500,000.
The five per cent rule is still in place for the portion up to $500,000.
Reaction in Alberta is mixed.
According to Edmonton realtor and broker Sheldon Johnston, it shouldn't have too much of an impact in this city.
"What I see from our stats in the percentage of buyers that are in that category, it really doesn't effect us." Johnston said. "Most of our buyers over a million are doing 20 per cent anyway, most of our buyers over six hundred thousand aren't first-time home buyers."
Johnston thinks it's a smart move by the federal government.
"This is just one of those things I look at and say, this is just simply house cleaning and it makes sense. It works for our market, I think, because we don't have that many properties where we have first-time home buyers buying million dollar condos."
Johnston believes the change is aimed at over-heated markets like Vancouver and Toronto, where higher priced property means more risk for home buyers.
Not everyone is happy with the change, though.
The Alberta branch of the Canadian Home Buyers Association sent out a press release Friday outlining its concerns.
It indicates that almost 70 per cent of new single-family homes sold this year in Alberta would have been impacted by the new rules.
The release says it's unfortunate that Alberta home buyers are forced to pay the price for what are seen as problems in other parts of Canada.
The organization plans to lobby the federal government to rethink the changes.