Finance Minister Jim Flaherty may have taken the steam out of an overheating national housing market.
Flaherty's tightened mortgage rules Tuesday are unlikely to make it more difficult to get a mortgage but it could reduce the size of the mortgage an individual can negotiate with a lender.
"The changes announced today will impact the experience Canadians have when they go into banks to get loans," said TD bank economist Craig Alexander.
A trend to forcing consumers to look at less expensive properties could end up softening the sharp year-over-year price increases that have been characteristic in many cities. In December, the average selling price of homes jumped 20 per cent compared to a year earlier. Investors also will have to put up 20 per cent of the purchase price instead of five per cent.
