Happy New Year! On behalf of our entire CMI team, we wish you and your loved ones health and prosperity in the year ahead. We hope you had a chance to rest and enjoy time with family and friends over the holidays.
The past year continued to provide compelling mortgage investment opportunities as the share of borrowers served by traditional lenders continued its downward slide. Private investors, both individual and institutional, stepped in to fill the ever-growing gap. In the face of poor equity market performance, persistently high inflation and erosion of real returns, conventional approaches to portfolio construction faltered. Private mortgage investments offered the defensive, inflation-resilient benefits sought by investors while delivering attractive risk-adjusted returns.
Although a tepid mortgage market is expected at least throughout the early months of this year, activity in the private segment of the industry is expected to remain strong throughout. These conditions will present expanded opportunities for mortgage investors to enhance their portfolios while offering a lifeline to underserved Canadian borrowers.
CMI MIC Funds: A diversified mortgage investment for a diverse range of investors
Our family of funds continued its pattern of sustained growth in 2023, attracting a combined $50M. Fund managers focused on prudent oversight while delivering regular income to investors. Each of the three funds achieved an annual yield within its respective target range:
| FUND | NET ANNUAL YIELD (2023) |
| CMI MIC Prime Mortgage Fund | 7.00% |
| CMI MIC Balanced Portfolio Fund | 8.83% |
| CMI MIC High Yield Opportunity Fund | 10.81% |
The CMI MIC Balanced Portfolio Fund has grown to become one of Canada’s largest private mortgage portfolios, with subscriptions growing 10% in 2023. The fund has paid a consistent yield of 8-9% since its inception in 2015.
CMI MIC High Yield Opportunity Fund grew subscriptions by 66% while the CMI MIC Prime Mortgage Fund remained stable over the year. Both funds have also achieved annual yield targets consistently since inception.
Assets growth across all three funds is expected to continue in 2024 and beyond as both investor appetite for high-quality fixed income alternatives and demand for private mortgage financing remain robust. With much lower minimums compared with a whole mortgage investment, MIC funds attract interest and capital from – and open the market up to – a much broader range of investors.
CMI Mortgage Investments: A full-service mortgage investment program, tailored for you
Our whole mortgage investment program continued its robust growth trend in 2023. Once again, our dynamic business model enabled us to respond to a turbulent financial landscape over the past year, allowing us to meet sustained demand without compromising the quality of our mortgage originations. We successfully funded more than $710 million in 2023, surpassing $2.5B in lifetime mortgage placements. Despite challenging economic conditions and the corresponding impact on household finances in Canada, the loss rate was negligible at less than 0.05%.
Compared with 2022, mortgage originations increased 10% in terms of dollar volume. Current assets under management sit at more than $915M, representing more than 3,296 active investments in our ever-expanding mortgage portfolio.
What to expect from CMI in 2024 and beyond
We are strongly positioned for continued growth and remain committed to providing you with the most compelling private mortgage investment opportunities in Canada. Looking ahead, we’re focused on:
- Growing and strengthening our partnerships. We continue to explore new partnerships to attract capital across the investor spectrum, from individual to institutional, and to expand our broker community, which we rely on to source the highest-quality deals in key markets across Canada.
- Expanding our award-winning roster of experts. As we grow our business and fortify our leadership position in the market, we continue to expand our team to serve you better and drive the continuous innovation that fuels our shared success.
- Providing regular market updates and analysis. To help you navigate the ever-changing financial landscape, we will continue to provide weekly commentary on the economy, financial and housing markets in our Market Monitor, as well as insight on solutions to Canada’s housing crisis in our Housing Affordability Watch.
- Increasing community support. Last year we found new ways to support our communities as well as a variety of causes meaningful to both our employees and our partners. We will continue to expand our focus and increase our support in the year ahead.
As always, thank you for entrusting us with your mortgage investment needs. We’re excited to begin this new year with strong momentum. For those who are new to us, not currently invested, or seeking a trusted private mortgage investment partner, we invite you to experience the CMI Difference. Contact us at info@thecmigroup.ca if you have any questions or would like to discuss our programs.
Bryan Jaskolka
CEO, CMI Financial Group
