—The Mortgage Report: July 13— False Start: Parts of the U.S are going back into lockdown, Fed officials are warning the economy is regressing and Ottawa is extending wage subsidies until December. That’s the kind of ominous news that makes people buy bonds. And if enough investors think the economy is heading back into the toilet, bonds will go up...
—The Mortgage Report: July 7— Price Expectations vs. Reality: “…Consumer expectations for house price growth in Canada dropped to zero,” according to a BoC survey released yesterday. But the data is about a month and a half old. Since then, home prices in the Greater Toronto Area have broken their 2017 record high. Imagine where prices would be if employment...
—The Mortgage Report: June 24— We Just Got Downgraded: The government is spending too much and it’s caught up with them. Our record quarter-trillion deficit worried Fitch, a ratings firm, enough to cut Canada’s credit rating today. “Pandemic lockdown measures and depressed global oil demand will cause a severe recession of the Canadian economy,” it says. Fitch projects Canada’s consolidated...
—The Mortgage Report: June 23— Prices Will Fall, Unless They Don’t: “Short-term uncertainty will lead to severe declines in sales activity and in new construction,” CMHC reported Tuesday. “House prices will fall as well and are unlikely to recover over the horizon of this report (through 2022).” But that statement is a tad general. It would be a mistake to...
—The Mortgage Report: June 19 — Long-term Money on Sale: If you’re willing to commit to a decade-long term, and you live in Ontario, you can now do it for less than at any time in history. 10-year fixed rates are now as low as 2.79% (an effective rate including cash back) for well-qualified borrowers in Ontario. Outside of Ontario,...
— The Mortgage Report : June 17 — Prices Slide: The Bank of Canada wants average core inflation at/near 2%, but it’s currently 1.67% and diving. That’s noteworthy for borrowers given inflation expectations are a primary determinant of mortgage rates. Inflation’s descent may slow thanks to rebounding oil prices, but it’ll continue dropping economists say—potentially to lows we haven’t seen...
The Mortgage Report – June 12 Deferrals Appearing on Credit Reports: Credit bureaus are alerting lenders when you’ve requested a payment deferral. If you’ve deferred your mortgage, Equifax says you should see one or both of these statements in the comments section of your credit report: Deferred Payment Affected by Natural or Declared Disaster Mortgage deferrals aren’t supposed to hurt...
Mortgage Report – June 11 A Thursday Thumping: Fixed mortgage rates follow bond yields most of the time. Yet, despite stocks surging since March on recovery hopes, bonds have been arguably more realistic (less optimistic). Well, today stocks converged meaningfully with bonds…finally. The talking heads on TV say the Fed’s outlook and accelerating COVID cases scared the market and we’ve...
The Mortgage Report – June 10 Dot Dot Dot Plot: The U.S. Federal Reserve, which sways Canadian rates more than many realize, was more pessimistic than expected in its rate announcement today. It’s “Dot Plot” (the Fed’s official rate forecast) now projects no rate hikes for 2020, 2021 and likely 2022. It’s unlikely Canada deviates much from the Fed’s path...
The Mortgage Report – June 5 Big Drops from HSBC: The online mortgage juggernaut keeps shaking competitors’ trees. This time with Canada’s lowest bank-advertised 5-year fixed rate ever, according to our records. It’s also the first bank to crack the 2% barrier on a 5-fixed, albeit it’s for default-insured mortgages only. HSBC’s move not only reflects historically low funding costs,...
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