Higher Default Insurer Premiums on the way?????

Canada’s banking regulator wants mortgage default insurers to put more money between themselves and taxpayers, especially for mortgages they insure in riskier cities.
The new rules, detailed today by OSFI, will force government-backed insurers to bolster their capital on mortgages in certain areas. Effective January 1, 2017, this could make mortgages more expensive for insurers and consumers alike.
“When house prices are high relative to borrower incomes, the new framework will require that more capital be set aside,” said Superintendent Jeremy Rudin. 
In a report today, BMO Capital Markets referred to these changes as “modestly tougher capital requirements.” It said that “through a phase-in mechanism” the new rules “essentially apply to new business only.”
You can bet your last basis point that insurers are already looking at ways to offset these new costs. Borrowers could be stuck with steeper premiums, higher interest rates and/or more rigid underwriting. That’s especially true if they have:

• Lower credit scores
• Higher loan-to-values
• Longer amortizations.

I’m hearing insiders speculate that this could even lead to regional premium variations. So I asked OSFI if it’s possible that a borrower in Toronto might be asked to pay a higher insurance premium than a borrower in, say, London, Ontario. OSFI replied: “It is up to the institutions to determine how they will manage the new requirements.”
As of Q2, Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary would have exceeded OSFI’s valuation thresholds and forced insurers to cough up more capital on mortgages in those cities. OSFI is using census metropolitan areas (CMAs) to define the regional boundaries. 

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