Market "trending upwards" for mortgage brokers in Canada

It may have been a milder year to date in Canada’s mortgage market than those that preceded it, but that’s not to say companies in the industry are having second thoughts on growth plans.

Graeme Moss (pictured), founder at the Hamilton, Ontario-based Fair Mortgage Solutions brokerage, told Canadian Mortgage ProfessionaI that business at the company had remained robust despite the cooldown – and that it’s recently started a concerted push to hire both seasoned and newer mortgage agents.

Indeed, while a mid-July one-percentage-point hike to the Bank of Canada’s benchmark lending rate – a higher increase than most had expected – caused a ripple of concern to reverberate across the market, much of that alarm has now dissipated, Moss said.

“I think when prime went up 1%, it was like a wall coming down. I think people, with financial and legal [matters], get a shock. And when they’re shocked, they often just stay put and worry about it.

“But what we’re finding now is that people are adjusting to it. And I think there are signs that the more complex, or B, side is definitely rising. So if a broker does the A side and the B side, and they’ve got that covered really well, I think they’ll do well no matter what.”

Those plans to bring in new faces aren’t just growth for the sake of growth. Moss emphasized the importance of hiring talent that meets the criteria of both a good background and high integrity.

“The key thing is so the agent can win, the client should win, and the lender should win,” he said. “Another thing in our favour is reputation and reliability.”

Volume across the board was on the up, Moss said, with the company also fielding many co-broking requests, as clients and the market adjust to a rapidly changing borrowing climate that presents both challenges and opportunities.

Read next: Where are interest rates headed for the rest of 2022?

An ever-escalating inflation crisis has dominated many headlines in Canada throughout 2022, but there was good news on that front at last in mid-August with the national statistics agency’s announcement that the yearly inflation rate was lower in July than the previous month, perhaps indicating that annual price growth had reached its peak.

While stress and uncertainty continue to be high among Canadian homeowners and would-be buyers, Moss said that the news was a positive sign for the remainder of the year. “I think all indicators are inflation is coming down a little bit, and that’s having a positive impact on potential interest rate increases and whatever [else],” he said.

The past two extraordinary years across Canada– not just where its housing and mortgage markets are concerned – have shone a light on the value that mortgage brokers and agents bring to the table, with 2022 throwing up its own fair share of twists and turns.

“Right now, you’ve got inflation, interest rates, Ukraine, Russia, China, US uncertainty, global warming… I don’t think I know of a time in history where people have been hit by so many possible stressful things at once,” Moss said. “So there’s a lot going on.”

Read next: Canada's inflation rate slows in July

Of course, housing affordability has featured near the top of the list of concerns for would-be homeowners over the last couple of years as prices skyrocketed and bidding wars intensified, particularly in red-hot markets like Toronto and Vancouver.

Even despite the market slowdown, those obstacles remain for many of those trying to take the first step on the property ladder, although the problem is far from a Canada-only phenomenon, according to Moss.

“It used to be that if you have an OK job and OK credit, you’d get a house,” he said. “Prices are sky-high right now – [but] I think the government has limited ability [to address it]. It’s a market force worldwide, not something unique to the United States or Canada or wherever. It’s definitely a market-driven thing.”

That said, the prime lending rate remains reasonable by historical standards even after recent hikes, and Moss believes opportunity will remain for the broker and agent community, and their clients, in the fall.

“I think from the mortgage broker point of view, it’s definitely trending up significantly higher,” he said. “And that sort of dovetails with why we need to get more people.”