OTTAWA, April 25, 2014 – As part of the review of its mortgage loan insurance business, CMHC is discontinuing its Second Home and Self-Employed Without 3^rd Party Income Validation mortgage insurance products effective May 30, 2014. Self-employed Canadians can still qualify for CMHC insured financing through CMHC homeowner products with a validation of their income using traditional methods.

“CMHC helps Canadians meet their housing needs and contributes to the stability of the housing market and finance system” said Steven Mennill, Senior Vice-President, Insurance. “As part of the review of its mortgage loan insurance business, CMHC is evaluating its products and services to ensure they are aligned with these objectives.”

As a result of changes to CMHC’s mandate to contribute to the stability of the housing market, benefitting all Canadians, while effectively managing and reducing taxpayers’ exposure to risk, CMHC is undertaking a review of its mortgage loan insurance business. This is the first set of changes resulting from this review.

CMHC Second Home and Self-Employed Without 3^rd Party Income Validation will remain available for new mortgage loan insurance requests submitted to CMHC before May 30, 2014, regardless of the closing date of the home purchase. As is normal practice, complete borrower and property details must be submitted by a lender to CMHC when requesting mortgage loan insurance.

Combined, CMHC Second Home and Self-Employed Without 3^rd Party Income Validation account for less than 3% of CMHC’s insured business volumes in units. Given the limited use of these products, their discontinuation is not expected to have a material impact on the housing market.

As Canada’s national housing agency, CMHC draws on more than 65 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of quality, environmentally sustainable, and affordable housing solutions that will continue to create vibrant and healthy communities and cities across the country.