Despite record-low short-term interest rates, most banks are offering junk 1-, 2- and 3-year rates on uninsured mortgages through the broker channel. We’re seeing 5-year variable pricing as low as 1.45% or less at major banks. Yet, on a one-year fixed, for example, they quote mortgage brokers over 2.40%. That’s well above the discretionary rates bank customers are reporting to...
Few years have altered the mortgage landscape like 2018. Canada experienced what is arguably the biggest mortgage rule change of all time (OSFI’s B-20 and its “stress test”). It was a policy that hammered mortgage growth to almostthree-decade lows, slashing buying power over 20% for uninsured mortgagors and forcing roughly 1 in 7 borrowers to change or abandon their mortgage...
For years now, policy-makers have been reining in government backing of the mortgage market, ostensibly to “reduce taxpayer risk.” Meanwhile, the riskiest mortgages in the prime owner-occupied market get the best mortgage rates. A “high-ratio” default insured borrower with only 5% down, for example, can fetch5-year fixed ratesat 3.29% or less. Yet, an uninsured borrower with four times the equity...
With the spring market on deck and bond yields sliding, big banks are sharpening their pencils on 5-year fixed pricing. Today we saw BMO cut its “Smart” 5-year fixed rate by 20 basis points, from 3.49% to 3.29%. (Best BMO mortgage rates) Then we saw CIBC launch a new 3.19% 5-year for high-ratio mortgages only. (Best CIBC mortgage rates) That...
Not exactly. One month after the mother of all mortgage rule changes, the wheels are still turning in Canada’s real estate and mortgage market. They’re just turning slower. But make no mistake, OSFI’s mortgage stress test has changed the landscape—for both borrowers and lenders. Here’s how: Fewer Mortgages Our best anecdotal guesstimate after speaking to a sampling of federally regulated...
We don’t buy the numbers in this story. Its premise is that some people are better off paying for mortgage default insurance—even if they don’t technically need it—just to get a better rate. The reason: insured rates are lower than uninsured rates (45 bps lower, claims the broker in the story). Really? Let’s test this theory and see if mortgage...
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