Developers’ predictions for new mortgage rules and the Home of the Week: Canadian real estate news for October 11

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Here are The Globe and Mail’s top housing and real estate stories this week and one home worth a look.

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Real estate developers predict mortgage changes will do little to spur demand for newly built homes

With sales of preconstruction homes slumping, builders have been hoping that the federal government would introduce policies to make it cheaper for them to build and easier for buyers to get into the market. But the recent mortgage changes are not expected to make much difference for builders of new homes, especially with preconstruction prices surpassing the price of existing homes and borrowing costs remaining high, writes Rachelle Younglai. The new rules stretch the amortization period out to 30 years, which reduces the homeowner’s monthly mortgage payments because they will have longer to pay off the loan. But it also means the homeowner will become more indebted and pay more interest. Some developers say the extension won’t provide enough relief for homebuyers, and Ottawa should have gone further and allowed preconstruction buyers to get an insured mortgage with an amortization period longer than 30 years.

Head office of private mortgage lender Romspen searched by Quebec’s tax agency

Romspen Investment Corp. — a private mortgage lender that raises cash from individual investors, then lends it out to real estate companies — had its Toronto offices searched by Revenu Québec this week. Quebec’s tax agency entered Romspen’s Toronto office and searched the headquarters, while two Toronto Police officers prevented anyone from entering, including the company’s co-founder. Romspen said it was served with a search warrant in connection to an investigation into unpaid Quebec sales tax by one of its insolvent borrowers. It is not immediately clear how much money was borrowed from Romspen, which is not the target of the Revenu Québec probe. Still, the mortgage lender has faced challenges over the past two years, when the market for real estate development froze as interest rates rose and many companies filed for creditor protection.

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Grandparents sometimes help save for their grandkids’ education. Should they focus on a down payment instead?

With the housing market increasingly out of reach for many young people, more grandparents are starting to help out with the cost of buying a home, writes Salmaan Farooqui. Traditionally, grandparents would save up for a grandchild’s education fund. But financial advisers say it’s unsurprising that parents and grandparents are more worried about a child’s access to the real estate market than an education. After all, most students is able to get loans to help fund their post-secondary education, but mortgages are much harder to access without savings and a high income. One challenge facing grandparents wanting to help out is that there are no tax-sheltered ways of saving specifically to help a family member buy a home. Saving for school is straightforward: the Registered Education Savings Plan is a very effective program that offers government grants and shelter from capital gains tax. But there’s no equivalent for saving for a down payment.

Opinion: Your chances of owning a home in Canada were already decided at birth

In today’s Canada, the cradle you’re born into increasingly dictates whether you’ll ever hold the keys to your own home. This isn’t just a market fluctuation. It’s a boiled frog phenomenon, writes personal finance columnist Preet Banerjee. Recent housing figures show purchasing a home depends increasingly on one’s parents’ financial position. The market is no longer a level playing field where hard work and reasonable savings secure a foothold for all. Instead, intergenerational wealth is an increasing factor in who becomes a homeowner. The cumulative effect is a generational crisis. Younger Canadians find it increasingly difficult to achieve the financial milestones their parents took for granted.

Home of the Week: Rural home with an overarching idea

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429697 8th Concession B Rd., Singhampton, Ont. – Full gallery here

Off a country road in the mix of horse and ski country south of Collingwood, Ont., is a 60-foot-long steel home that is an unlikely compromise between industrial tastes and a desire to be near nature. The three-bedroom house is categorized as a Quonset Hut, a sheet metal structure churned out by the thousands for wartime shelter and reconstruction. There are no windows cut into the steel. Triple-pane window walls at either end of the structure allow plenty of natural light. Inside is a modest rectangular hallway and foyer with sliding barn-style doors under the exposed beams of the second level. The back half of the house is a 40-foot-wide room that curves 20-feet high at the centre. A second, smaller Quonset Hut sits on the property, which can serve as a garage and workshop.