If you’ve got a hankering for a mortgage with maximum rate assurance, none beats the 10-year fixed. But once Canada rounds the corner on its economic recovery, 10-year rates could climb faster than other mortgage rates. The reason: 10-year terms reflect longer-term economic expectations than 5-year terms, for example. As a result, they often react more to changes in the...
Variable rates on new mortgages could get a little cheaper this quarter, for one of four reasons, or maybe all four: Bankers’ acceptance (BA) rates — a general proxy for variable-rate funding costs — are at an all-time low. That’s boosted the spread between prime rate and BAs to almost a 12-year high. Think of that spread as a rough...
“What’s the lowest rate?” is one of those questions you can’t answer with one number. There are just too many factors that determine the rate someone pays. You have to ask more questions, like: How much equity do you have? Are you purchasing a home, refinancing, or just switching lenders? What term do you prefer? What province are you in?...
The Mortgage Report: Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. 5-year yields leaped to a 7-week high on Wednesday as Democrats took control of all three houses of government, thanks to their historic win in Georgia. Canada’s 5-year yield rose in sympathy by a less notable 2 bps, but economists nonetheless expect more of an incline in rates this year. The reason: Democrats...
The Mortgage Report: Jan. 4, 2021 2020 was a year that took pleasure in humiliating forecasters. From the remarkable bounce in housing, to the resilience of mortgage volumes, to the devastation in big-city rental markets, to the homeowner exodus from urban cores to the lows of contract mortgage rates, to the persistence of high qualifying rates — 2020 made the...
“Vaccines have come too late to avoid a bleak winter,” said Capital Economics in a report last week. The market agrees. Canada’s two-year bond yield, often used to forecast Bank of Canada rate policy, hit a record low on Thursday. That coincides with recent BoC comments that it could cut the overnight rate by less than the standard 25 basis...
Quick Rundown Today’s Announcement:No change to rates Overnight rate:0.25% Prime Rate:2.45% (also no change; seePrime Rate) Market Rate Forecast:No BoC hikes until at least 2023 BoC’s Headline Quote: “The Governing Council will hold the policy interest rate at the effective lower bound until economic slack is absorbed so that the 2% inflation target is sustainably achieved.” BoC on the Economy:...
—The Mortgage Report: Nov. 27— If you’re out there mortgage shopping, BoC chief Tiff Macklem had a message for you Thursday: “We want to be very clear, Canadians can be confident that borrowing costs are going to remain very low for a long time.” It’s a mantra he’s repeated for months. Among the reasons: “…The economy still has more than...
—The Mortgage Report: Nov. 23— Bond yields stopped falling three months ago but that hasn’t stopped Tangerine from launching one sweet 10-year special. If you: think the economy will turn around in 2021, and think rates are near a medium-term (or longer) bottom, and want maximum protection from future rate increase, thenTangerine’s new 10-year fixed rate might just check your...
—The Mortgage Report: Nov. 17— Remember that rate: 8 3/4%? Your average first-time buyer wouldn’t, as he/she would’ve been just seven years old at the time (1991). 8.75% was a tremendous 1-year fixed rate back then. But man, did it take a bite out of people’s budgets. Consider that on a standard $100,000 mortgage, you would’ve paid: $811 a month,...
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