![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/bc-home-sales-february-2019.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPhoto: Rain Sun\/Flickr<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n To demonstrate how BC home sales activity has dropped off in the 14 months after policymakers changed the qualification process for uninsured mortgages, a provincial real estate association has drawn a line in the sand \u2014 or rather, a chart.<\/p>\n\n With the release of the British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA)\u2019s February home sales statistics earlier this month, the industry association included the chart, giving a before-and-after look at seasonally adjusted BC home sales, which plummeted 27 percent last month on a year-over-year basis.<\/p>\n \u201cProspective homebuyers continue to be sidelined by the mortgage stress test,\u201d says Brendon Ogmundson, BCREA\u2019s deputy chief economist, in a news release<\/a>. \u201cAs a consequence, and despite a strong BC labour market, sales remained slow in February,\u201d Ogmundson.<\/p>\n Last January, federal policymakers expanded mandatory stress testing to the uninsured mortgage segment. The rule change meant that even if a borrower was able to cobble together a downpayment of 20 percent \u2014 thus not requiring mortgage insurance \u2014 they\u2019d still be need to qualify at a rate 200 basis points higher than what their bank was offering. Insured mortgage applicants already faced stress testing.<\/p>\n BC home prices have also taken a hit since the federal policy was implemented. The average selling price of a residential property in the last month was $678,625, down 9.3 percent from a year prior.<\/p>\n Ahead of the release of the Canadian federal government\u2019s budget, which was unveiled on March 19th, Justin Trudeau\u2019s Liberals faced calls to relax the stress tests.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n