The Annual State of the Mortgage Market in Canada Year End 2019 from Mortgage Professionals Canada revealed some interesting home equity trends.
The report found that while 88% of homeowners have equity ratios of 25% or higher, only 6% of all homeowners took out equity during 2019.
The average amount taken out in 2019 was $72,000, with the majority of borrowers using the equity for renovations or home repair (39%) and debt consolidation or repayment (23%).
Could this represent an opportunity?
Home Equity and COVID-19
With the COVID-19 pandemic, many Canadians have encountered financial difficulty, whether through layoffs, reduced hours, time off to care for a sick relative, and more.
On the flip side, some consumers who kept their income might have been saving more during the pandemic as their spending activities — such as travel and large events — were limited.
What this means for mortgage professionals is that you could have clients on all kinds of different financial ground — and who might have different uses for their home equity.
Those who have encountered hardship may need to access equity to pay off high-interest debt. If your clients are struggling, knowing their available equity could provide much-needed relief.
Clients who have managed to save money may have more equity available. They could also be looking to make a larger investment or purchase, like a renovation, and need some assistance to achieve their dream home makeover.
In both cases, you need a way to quickly assess your clients’ equity availability if they come to you — or a way to assess potential opportunities for generating mortgage leads.
Enter the equity estimate.
Access Equity Estimates Online
An equity estimate enables you to quickly learn details about all registered mortgages on title and estimate the available equity in a property.
With an equity estimate from Purview, you can even view registrations where there is little or no mortgage left as you can access a history of registrations and discharges.
This allows you to assess the potential for refinancing, private lending, a home equity line of credit, and more.
You can also view other mortgage information on title, including institution name, amount, and issue dates.
If you need to dig deeper, you can also access a Parcel Register* or Instrument Image* to view even more details about a property’s history, including registrations, discharges, transfers, powers of sale, and more.
When you have this information at your fingertips, you can be ready to scale quickly as needed and identify opportunities for your book of business.
Learn more about the Equity Estimate from Purview by calling 1-855-787-8439 or visiting www.purview.ca.
What home equity trends have you seen through COVID-19? Are your clients accessing more equity, less, the same? Share with us on social media. Purview is on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
