Despite a bearish housing market, demand for Halal home financing is strong in some provinces, The Globe and Mail reports. Islam prohibits both payment and receipt of interest, which rules out conventional mortgages. As a result, the country’s more than one million Muslims are disproportionately renters.
Edmonton startup Canadian Halal Finance Corp. is working with the Al Rashid Mosque, the first built in Canada, to fill the niche. “This is the fastest growing segment of the Canadian population that was excluded from Canada’s real-estate market,” said Thomas Lukaszuk, a former Alberta cabinet minister who founded the company with lawyer John Stainton. Contracts typically resemble a lease-to-own agreement.
