“They could go back to where if it was a three-year or less, you’d have to qualify on the three-year posted rate. If it’s greater than three years, you qualify on your actual rate – just like it was before they introduced the stress test.

“For decades, people were under that model and it worked fine. If we’re going back to where rates were 10 years ago, 15 years ago, why can’t we go back to how we qualified [borrowers] 10 years ago?”

Another suggestion that’s commonly floated among members of the mortgage industry is the possible introduction of longer amortizations, a measure that could ease affordability for the first-time buyer contingent and make their path to homeownership a more straightforward one.

“I really believe that where we can go with a higher amortization – I’m talking 35 or 40 years – is in the first-time buyer market space,” Boodoo said. “The way I would look at it is if you’re a first-time buyer, traditionally over the last 30 years, going back even further, you would buy a home and live in that home your entire life.

“That’s not the reality now. You buy a home [for] probably three to five years and you step up into something else. Life changes and family size changes cause these transitions from one home to another. Nobody’s actually staying in that home for 30, 35, or 40 years. So why not give the first-time homebuyer a higher amortization to help them get into the market?”