Royal Bank of Canada scraps limit on size of immigrant mortgages

Vancouver

THE Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) scrapped an internal limit on mortgage loan size for immigrants in the spring to tap into surging demand for financing on multi-million-dollar houses by newcomers to Vancouver.

Wealthy buyers, mostly from China, are fuelling a booming mortgage business in Vancouver, where the median price for a detached home on the desirable west side jumped 31 per cent to C$2.87 million (S$3.06 million) in the last two years.

RBC, Canada's largest bank, removed its C$1.25 million cap on loans to borrowers with no local credit history in May, said Christine Shisler, the bank's director of multicultural markets, who works with an immigrant clientele.

"We're seeing a lot of affluent newcomers looking to buy high-purchase- price homes," she said. "Now we can actually service…