CMHC stands for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, which is a crown corporation of the government of Canada. Although apartment owners are usually familiar with the benefits of CMHC loan insurance and CMHC loan terms, there are many other CMHC financing options that are not well known and may be beneficial to apartment owners.
CMHC does not directly insure loans for commercial property such as office building or retail centers. However, CMHC does permit up to 30% of a multi-residential property to be used for commercial uses such as a gift shop, office space, etc. If the area of the commercial space is less than 30% of gross floor area or lesser than 30% of the total lending value, then the revenue generated from that commercial space can be included into the total revenue of the property. However, if the commercial space is greater than 30% of the total property area, then the income cannot be added to the total revenue of the property.
CMHC Top-up
Apartment owners may want to increase their loan amount at a minimal cost. The CMHC permits existing CMHC insured loans to be refinanced up to a 65% loan to property value ratio with a premium of 1.75% that is paid only on the new money.
CMHC Mortgage Financing
CMHC will insure second mortgages until the term renewal of the existing first mortgage, which doesn’t necessarily have to be a CMHC insured loan. Then, at term renewal, the two mortgages are combined into one new CMHC. This is beneficial in a rising interest rate environment because a CMHC insured the second mortgage provides a way to increase the loan amount during an existing loan term rather than waiting for the maturity of the first mortgage.
CMHC also insures loans for capital improvements to a maximum of 85% of property value.
CMHC also permits floating rate term loans for terms of at least 5 years. These situations would be beneficial when rates are decreasing or early repayment is anticipated.
Overall, many CMHC financing options are overlooked and not understood very well by apartment investors, so it is important to learn all of the different options available and see which ones can be beneficial.
