Top mortgage stories of the week:

• Scotiabank to buy ING Bank of Canada for $3.13 billion
• Canada housing market supported by fundamentals - CMHC
• Canadian housing became less affordable in Q2: RBC

This Week's Quotation:

“ The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. ” - Franklin D. Roosevelt

Scotiabank to buy ING Bank of Canada for $3.13 billion

In one of the biggest deals in its history, Scotiabank says it has reached an agreement to buy ING Bank of Canada from Netherlands-based parent ING Group for $3.13 billion in cash. Customers of ING Direct, which built its reputation as the low-cost alternative to traditional banking, will not see any change in the service, Scotiabank said. "ING Direct will continue to operate separately and customers will continue to interact the way they do now," Anatol von Hahn, Group Head of Canadian Banking at Scotiabank, said on a conference call with reporters… Read more....

Canada housing market supported by fundamentals - CMHC

The Canadian government's housing agency signaled on Wednesday that it is not concerned about a housing bubble forming, declaring that the market is supported by fundamentals. "Overall, Canadian housing markets are supported by economic and demographic fundamentals; however, CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp) continues to closely monitor activity," the agency said in its second-quarter financial report… Read more....

Canadian housing became less affordable in Q2: RBC

Home prices may be falling in Canada's largest housing markets, but that doesn't mean homes are about to become any more affordable. Robert Hogue, senior economist at RBC Economics, said that Canadian home buyers could be facing increased pressure early next year when he predicts the Bank of Canada will move to hike interest rates, resulting in higher mortgage rates. The pressure going forward is not going to come from prices per se, but is going to come from rising interest rates… Read more....