The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said income losses and falling consumer sentiment could limit demand, while sales could be limited by a potential construction shutdown if COVID-19 cases increase. (The Logic)

Talking point: The warning accompanied CMHC’s second quarter financial report, in which it reported net income of $566 million compared with $379 million in the same quarter last year. The agency is already seeing some effects of the pandemic in its results. “While it will take several months for the economic impacts of COVID-19 to fully materialize, some factors are starting to work their way into…our financial results—for example, we are starting to see the impacts in our provisions for insurance claims,” said CFO Lisa Williams. CMHC has taken a number of actions in recent months to try and blunt the impact of the downturn it’s expecting. Earlier this month it asked Canadian banks to avoid risky mortgages and in July it tightened its underwriting policies.