CMHC to Stop Insuring Mortgages on Million-Dollar homes, Condo Construction

From the Vancouver Sun - 

OTTAWA - Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says it will no longer offer mortgage insurance for homes that cost $1 million or more, starting July 31, even if the buyer has made a deposit of 20 per cent or more.

It's a step further than rules introduced two years ago when then finance minister Jim Flaherty announced that CMHC would stop insuring mortgages on homes worth $1 million or more if the buyer borrowed more than 80 per cent of the value.

The Crown corporation says the changes announced Friday would have affected only about three per cent of the mortgage insurance it provided last year for individual homes.

CMHC also announced it will no longer insure loans that are used to finance construction of multi-unit condominium projects, effective immediately.

It says that type of insurance product was introduced in 2010, but CMHC hasn't provided any to builders since 2011.

CMHC also says its mortgage loan insurance for condo buyers isn't affected by the change.

See the news release from CMHC here. 

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Royal York and Hotel Vancouver Up for Sale

From the Globe and Mail:
Two of Canada’s most famous hotels – Toronto’s Royal York and the Hotel Vancouver – have been put up for sale by Quebec’s giant pension plan, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, which is moving out of the lodging business.

The hotels, both managed by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, date back to the glory days of the railroad and were once among the most impressive in the world. The Royal York opened in 1929 after the Canadian Pacific Railway decided it wanted to build the largest hotel in the British Commonwealth. When it opened, the opulent venue had more than 1,000 rooms and rose up 28 floors, making it the tallest building in the Commonwealth. The Hotel Vancouver opened in 1939 just in time for a visit by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.