The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corportation, or CMHC, is now offering another down payment option to Canadian home buyers. This product, called Flex Down, offers buyers a "wider range of sources for their down payment such as borrowed funds and lender cash-back incentives."

They advertise this product as having the following features (these are quoted from CMHC):

•  Available for Purchase Transactions
• Loan-to-Value ratios of 90.01% to 95%
• 1 – 2 unit residential properties
• Wider range of sources of down payment permitted
• Flexible financing options – single advance, progress advance and extended amortization periods are available
• Flexibilities available for the purchase of energy-efficient homes

and benefits (so are these):

• Helps Provide Earlier Access to Homeownership – with as little as 5% down using flexible sources of down payment.
  
• Flexible Down Payments – Wider range of sources of down payment permitted.
• Competitive Interest Rates – Access to CMHC insured financing, and as a result, competitive interest rates.
• Availability – Available coast-to-coast-to-coast with no set maximum loan amount.

This all sounds good but I at least with the cash back mortgages buyers to need to be careful about the rate as it can be significantly higher than it would with other mortgage products.