—The Mortgage Report: Weekend Edition— Renewal Tax: Borrowers get worse deals on mortgage renewals than on brand new mortgages. And it’s been that way for decades. Interest rates on renewals have historically been about nine basis-points (0.09%) higher than rates on new mortgages. That’s based on a survey of five-year uninsured mortgages from 19 of the largest federally regulated lenders...
—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 8 2:35 p.m. Update CMHC on Its Own: If you’re buying with less than 20% down and can’t qualify under CMHC’s stricter insured mortgage rules, you still have options. Effective July 1, CMHC is lowering the maximum debt you can carry, raising its minimum credit score to 680 and banning certain borrowed down payments. But...
The Mortgage Report – May 27 Shop Rates, Says Bank of Canada: “The price of a mortgage can vary a lot among lenders…You’ll most likely find a lower interest rate if you do your homework and are willing to negotiate.”—Bank of Canada The BoC Does Move Fixed Rates: It’s a misconception that the Bank of Canada only influences variable mortgage...
The Mortgage Report – Weekend Edition More Sub-2% Rates: For default-insured borrowers, there’s now up to three mortgage terms in the magic 1% range, depending on your province. They include the one-year fixed, three-year fixed and variable. In coming weeks, more borrowers could strategically choose shorter fixed terms to: (a) wait for better variable-rate discounts in 2021, and/or (b) get...
Mortgage Report – Weekend Edition Prices Tumble in April: The national average home price in Canada has plunged almost 10% in one month (April). That’s never happened before in CREA data going back to 1980. The next closest month-over-month drop was -7.6% in April 1989. The data was skewed partly by the GTA’s 11.8% nose-dive. Home Inventories Skyrocket: The total...
Daily Mortgage Report – May 5 Trap Door for GTA Home Values: The average home price in the Greater Toronto Area fell a startling 11.8% versus March (those details). And Toronto’s drop wasn’t alone. Among the larger cities reporting April prices, Ottawa fell 6.8%, Calgary was down 5.3% and London dropped 5.4%. Vancouver is holding up for now, at basically...
Cracks in Real Estate: Home sales have plunged. No secret there. But new data from HouseSigma gives us a hint of how much, at least in the Greater Toronto Area. Raw year-over-year sales data shows that during the first three weeks of April, GTA home sales have nosedived from 11,777 to just 4,027, down roughly 66%. And properties for sale...
Spring is officially more than a month away, but in hot housing markets “spring” homebuying season has already begun. And it’s shaping up to be a competitive one, especially with the just-announced stress test easing. A recent survey from RE/MAX suggests that more than 6 in 10 real estate agents in major cities (62%) are seeing buyers being priced out...
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