“Since 2007, the share of all banking assets controlled by the largest six banks grew from 90% to 93%.”—John Jason, C.D. Howe ******* Fine time to land acrushingregulatory uppercuton bank challengers. That’s what the good intentioned folks in Ottawa did this week when they turned the tables onborrowers and mortgage competition. (Those details)In doing so, the Finance Department left borrowers...
The government dropped a bomb on the mortgage industrytoday, and disguised it as a firecracker. Policy-makers imposed a range of new measures with the stated goal of improvinghousing “stability.” Here’s asummary from the Department of Finance –> DoF Press Release. Preliminary official estimates are that 1 in 12 homebuyers could be affected. I don’t buy it. We’ve heard from numerous...
The Spy’s tech team has been cooking up lots ofnew features to help you better analyze, track and compare mortgage rates. The latest additions were just launched and you can now: View historical rates! This was one of the Spy’s most requested features. It took an epic effort but you’re now able to view rates fromprior days. To use the...
Effective January 1, 2017, financial regulators willmake default insurers (like CMHC) hold morecapitalwhen insuringmortgages in highly valued cities. The purposeis to keep government-backedinsurers more solventif home pricesfall off a cliff. But financial stability has a cost. Capitalis not free so both insurers and lenders will look for ways to offset thishigher cost. Potentialramifications for borrowers couldinclude: Higher insurance premiums expect...
“Young folks with mortgages regularly thank me for keeping interest rates low.“ —Bank of Canada Governor, Stephen Poloz In fact, Mr. Poloz’s decisions to keep rates low have practically been made for him, by serially disappointing economic data. Monetary policy has merely reacted to what he terms “a steady decline in the potential growth rate of the economy.” The...
The mortgage industry’s most-watched number — Canada’s5-year government yield — is back above its midpoint for the year. As regular readers know, bond yields drive thefixed mortgage rate bus. The best mortgage rates barelybudged this week. Yields have sprung back to life, however, in reactionto: the U.S. Fed’s incessant chirping about approaching rate hikes (chirping punctuated by its continualcontradictionson rate...
Mortgage competition is an exquisite thing, especially on days like this. Canada’s 5-year government bond yield sprang to a two-month high today. Normally that’s a cluethat fixed mortgage rates are on the up escalator. Not this time. Instead, 5-year fixeds defied bonds (and logic) and actually dropped — at least the ones tracked by RateSpy.com. The nation’s leading 5-year fixed...
Another Bank of Canada rate meeting has come and gone with no shift in prime rate. Here’s pretty much the only line in the Bank’s 421-word statement worth repeating: “On balance, risks to the profile for inflation have tilted somewhat to the downside…” Deciphered, this means: The Bank is closer to droppingrates than raising them. And it could take multiple...
It doesn’t matter what you’re buying. If there’s a salesperson involved, the price is almost always negotiable. That goes for mortgages too, so here’s some intel on how to wina betterdeal on your next one. Step #1 First off, understand what you have to gain.Spending an hour of your time to save 10 basis points (0.10%) off yourrate is worth...
“Mortgage rates have bottomed.” That’s what some economists were proclaiming last year. The market then did what the market likes to do, confound and humble those who try to predict it. Earlier today, intelliMortgage (a brokerage related to this website) became the first mortgage provider in Canada, according to RateSpy.com records, with a five-year fixed rate under 2.00%. It’s a...
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