PEAK Has Helped 111 Individuals & Families Purchase a Home of Their Own

You may have seen some recent posts to social media from us about PEAK, but was it enough to ‘pique’ your curiosity? Well, how about taking a few minutes to learn some more about it on this rainy day? It might help you or someone you know finally get into your very own home.

PEAK is a down payment assistance program designed to help middle-income families and individuals purchase their first home. PEAK stands for Public, Essential And Key workforce, which is the primary group the program serves.

The PEAK Program was introduced in 2009 to provide an affordable home ownership option for employed individuals who were unable to save up enough money for a down payment on their first home. PEAK began as a joint program between Trico Residential, the Government of Alberta Municipal Affairs, CMHC and Habitat for Humanity Southern Alberta.

To date, PEAK has helped 111 individuals and families purchase a home of their own.

How PEAK Works

PEAK housing units are priced at market value and recipients must be able to qualify for and hold a mortgage. Once you are approved for the program, PEAK will provide a second mortgage for either a partial or full down payment up to a maximum of 5% of the purchase price.

The second down payment mortgage is interest free for the first five years, with repayment not due until you sell your home. If you choose to stay in the home beyond the five-year period you will begin to accrue interest to the second mortgage.

The best part about it is that PEAK recipients are able to retain all of the equity in their home, minus their initial deposit, if they stay in the home for at least three years.

The goal of PEAK is to help new home buyers enter the market, retain their equity to move up, and to continue to recirculate the initial fund to help additional first time buyers purchase a home.

Visit the PEAK website to find out more, and discover which of our projects qualify under the program.