—The Mortgage Report: Dec 7— HSBC’s 0.99% variable-rate special remains the talk of the industry. Consumers have noticed, too. Online mortgage searches are up nearly 50% in the last week, according to Google Trends. Here’s more of the latest on HSBC’s headline-making offer: January 3, 2021, is officially the last day to apply, according to HSBC’s terms and conditions. It’s...
Canada’s fifth-largest bank reportedly has an unpublished 1.49% 4-year fixed special right now. That’s a new 4-year fixed record-low, and the lowest uninsured fixed rate in the country. It’s also available on default-insured mortgages. Four-year fixed rates are nowhere near as popular as 5-year rates. They’re an oft-overlooked term with only 1 in 16 Canadians choosing them, according to Mortgage...
—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. 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,...
—The Mortgage Report: Nov. 2— Check out these hideous renewal offers from a Big 6 bank. Yes, that’s right, banks are still quoting loyal customers non-discounted posted rates—the rates virtually nobody is supposed to pay. This particular bank must really hate its customers. Fortunately, the borrower, who was extremely well-qualified, came to us for a second opinion. We told him...
—The Mortgage Report: Oct. 29— 1.29% is now the variable rate to beat, in Ontario at least. This new rate is: effectively equivalent to prime – 1.16%, a discount we haven’t seen since the COVID implosion last March 11 bps below the lowest 5-year fixed in the province (that being 1.40% for default-insured mortgages). Unfortunately, 1.29% is only available on...
—The Mortgage Report: Sept. 30— The costs you’re expected bear to carry a new mortgage have never been higher—at least based on how lenders assess you as a mortgage applicant. Rocketing home prices and a stubbornly high “stress test rate” have pushed the basic inflation-adjusted cost to carry a home (i.e., average mortgage payment + heat + property taxes) to...
Bond yields heavily influence what people pay for a mortgage. In general, the more government bond-buying there is, the lower fixed mortgage rates go. Explainer: Bond prices and bond rates (yields) always move inversely. Fixed mortgage rates are benchmarked against bond yields. Governments around the world are manipulating mortgage rates by buying their nations’ own debt. Take the U.S. Federal...
—The Mortgage Report: Sept. 18— Variable Discounts Improve Further Bankers are making more dinero on floating-rate loans. That’s motivating them to cough up some profit and sharpen their variable rate pencils. Online brokers are now effectively as low as prime – 0.93% on default-insured variables in some provinces. Uninsured customers (including those refinancing) get milked for more, as usual, but...
—The Mortgage Report: Sept. 2— Here’s something that baffles even experienced financial professionals. The U.S. stock market is exploding to all-time highs while bond yields trudge near record lows. It’s a question investors are asking all the time: are stocks signalling a growth recovery that will lift yields higher? The mortgage relevance is clear: if U.S. yields pop, so do...
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