Mortgage insurance should be separated from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and moved into a new fund to protect taxpayers. That’s the view of the CD Howe Institute which says that if unemployment rises and house prices fall Ottawa would have $9 billion to pay out to cover mortgage defaults; taking into consideration the proportion of debt covered by the private sector. The new fund would be topped up with higher mortgage insurance premiums which would include a 10 per cent insurance surcharge. The other major change the think tank proposes is that the new fund would only be available to private residential buyers and not to investors in apartment buildings.
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