“If all we’re telling people is you got to wait around until there’s more supply which will bring down prices, that’s five or six years away,” said Tyler Meredith, former economic advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “There are people on the sidelines now who could use some help.”Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, right, listens as Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Sean Fraser makes a housing announcement in Dartmouth, N.S. on Tuesday, April 2, 2024.
As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals run a full-court press on housing ahead of the government’s annual budget on April 16, some experts are calling on the feds to increase the maximum amortization period for mortgages. Currently, if you apply for a mortgage, the longest period you can sign up for to repay that loan is 25 years. That policy has been in place since 2012, when Jim Flaherty, the Harper-era finance minister, lowered the maximum from 30 years.
Lowering the legal limit to 25 years was the final change Flaherty made before the Liberals took power in 2015, but it was