Insured mortgage delinquencies rise in Alberta, Sask., CMHC says

More Albertans are having difficulty paying theirmortgages on time, according to data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

As of the end of June, the federal Crown corporation said 1,487 of its loans in Alberta were at least 90 days late in paying mortgages thatCMHC insures. That's up from 978 a year ago.

• CMHC pushes to get banks to shoulder more mortgage market risk
• Debt delinquencies spike nearly 15% in Alberta but dip in Ontario and B.C.

The number of insured mortgages in arrears in Saskatchewan rose from 392 to 529 in the same period.

On a national basis, CMHCreported8,386 delinquent loans at the end of June, down by almost 1,000 from a year earlier. The increase in delinquencies in Alberta and Saskatchewan was more than offset by drops in other provinces especially in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia.

The agency'snational arrears rate in the second quarter fell to 0.32 per cent, from 0.34 per cent in the second quarter of 2015.

CMHC has just over 2.6 million loans in Canada.

"Our net income is stable, insured volumes are up and the overall arrears rate remains low," CMHC chief financial officer Brian Naish said in a statement. "That said, we continue to monitor housing markets closely due to weaker economic conditions in parts of the country."

Mortgage insurance is required when homeowners have a down payment that amounts to less than 20 per cent of the purchase price. Homeowners pay premiums to CMHC or to a private mortgage insurer, which in turn pays lenders who face mortgage lending losses on insured loans.

CMHC said earlier this year that it wantsbanks to shoulder more of the risk in mortgage lending.

• CMHC says list of housing markets deemed overvalued is growing

As of the end of June, CMHC said it had $523 billion of mortgage insurance business in force, down $3 billion from year-end 2015. By law, the corporation is allowed to have a maximum of$600 billion in mortgage insurance in force.

The second-quarter financial statements also revealed that:

• CMHC had $338 million in net income in the quarter.
• Homebuyers with CMHC-insured mortgages havean an average credit score of 750, which is considered very good.

Genworth MI Canada, a publicly traded, private-sector mortgage insurer, reported earlier this month that it had 1,961 delinquencies on its books at the end of June 2016. That was an increase of 295 from the same quarter a year earlier.

Most of that was due to oilpatch weakness in Alberta, where the number of delinquencies rose by 240 over the previous year.

• Insolvenciesup 35% in Alberta, marking largest jump across the country

But Genworthsaid both its quarterly profits and earnings per share in the second quarter were stillup eightper cent over the same quarter a year ago.

The federal government has taken a number of steps in thepast few years to cool the housing market, including lowering therequirement that insured mortgages be amortized for amaximum of 25years and requiring a 10 per cent down payment on the portion of any mortgage CMHCinsuresover $500,000.