COPRQuestion said:
Thanks for the info, I've spoken to a mortgage broker and he said I'm fine and none of these changes will impact me too much. In fact My issue is whether to buy a property outright and not mortgage or taking out a small mortgage
As you quite rightly point out getting the mortgage without a job is going to be the tough bit. However, I understand HSBC will transfer my credit history from Hong Kong and if necessary I can seek up front approval now using my Hong Kong salary.
Really it depends on your ability to pay month-to-month. Yes I've also heard that banks require 35% for newcomers (even if you don't have credit).
Sample calculation for mortgage:
Assuming you're looking for a property of $1M as you mentioned, putting in $350,000 would make your mortgage balance approximately $750,000. On a 4 year fixed rate mortgage, monthly payment would be about $3,450, which you would have to cover. Also, for such a large principal amount ($750,000), even if you have good credit transferred from your previous bank but no secure job, the bank would still look at your ability to pay the first year's mortgage payments (meaning do you have bank balance to cover that amount). One of my colleagues is a mortgage broker and he mentioned this when we were working with a joint client. I used the TD Canada Trust Mortgage Calculator (https://tools.td.com/mortgage-payment-calculator/) for the calculations.
Alternatively, if you are buying a property outright for $350,000 you wouldn't have to worry about mortgage or monthly payments. But in that case, depending on where in the city you are looking, you'd likely get a smaller property. The average price of a condo apartment in Toronto and area is $437,281 (check the Toronto Real Estate Board report here: http://www.trebhome.com/market_news/condo_report/ ). Likely you would still have a mortgage, but it would be much less. However, yes there are still properties you can get for $350,000 purchasing outright without any mortgage in parts of the city and GTA.
In the end, it depends on what is best for your personal financial situation and also for your family (house vs. condo, being in the City of Toronto vs. in the suburbs, etc.)
Let me know if I can help in any way.
Best of luck!