motusbank just launched the lowest fixed rate in Canada for an uninsured mortgage: 2.49%. It’s the cheapest widely available 2-year fixed since September 2017. Compare that to the lowest nationally-available conventional variable (2.84% from HSBC) and it begs the question: Why bother floating your rate? For default insured borrowers in Ontario, this question is even more imperative. That’s because DUCA...
Not much going on this weekend. Only a little meeting between the world’s two most powerful leaders about 2019’s single most important economic issue. U.S. prez Trump and Chinese supreme head communist guy, Xi, collide over trade ahead of Saturday’s G-20 summit in Japan. And, batten down the hatches, because it has the potential to be a short-term tide changer...
Canada’s third-largest bank has an alluring new4-year fixed rate. It’s the nation’s lowest 4-year fixed since December 2017. But that’s not the most interesting part. This marks the first time in our recollection that a major bank has widely advertised an online-only special and the industry’s best-discounted rate. It’s somewhat of a milestone in rate transparency, one inspired by consumers’...
Banks seldom offer HELOCs for less than prime rate, unless it’s a short-term teaser rate. But suddenly we have two online banks selling HELOCs at discounts to prime. The latest is Tangerine. On Friday,Tangerine lopped 75 basis points off its HELOC rate — cutting it from prime + 0.65% (where it’s been for years) to prime – 0.10%, or 3.85%....
Do you care if some investor in China or France dumps Canadian bonds? Many would answer, no. But when foreign demand for Canadian bonds drops, other things equal, bond prices drop. And given bonds and yields (interest rates) move inversely, and given fixed mortgages are partially funded in the bond market, when overseas demand for Canadian bonds falls, it usually...
Can anyone remember the last time 3-year fixed rates were the lowest widely available conventional mortgage rates? We can’t. But that’s now the case if you’re putting 20% down. For most well-qualified borrowers with 20-29.99% equity, we’d venture to say there’s no better deal right now than the three-year. Not a 1-year fixed, not a 2-year fixed, not even a...
The latest happenings from the rate world: HSBC Won’t Let Up Despite moving to an everyday-low-rate online model a few years ago, competitors keep thinking (or maybe hoping) that HSBC is just a flash in the pan. Then it does what it did today. The bank hammered rates lower this morning, to: 2.74% for insured 5-year fixed mortgages (down 15...
Canadian interest rates are still sliding. On Monday, Canada’s5-year bond yield—which drives fixed mortgage rates—closed in the 1.50% range, something it hasn’t done since November 2017. Dozens of lenders have trimmed fixed rates in recent days as yields keep tumbling. And big banks are not excepted. With skidding home sales, weakening property values and mortgage growth near multi-decade lows, the...
There’s an increasingly ominous vibe to Canada’s economic outlook, and that’s got the market taking rates down another notch. Canada’s5-year bond yield is seven basis points lower today—to 1.63% as we write this. That’s the lowest it’s been since December 2017.All told, the 5-year yield has now sank 83 basis points since the November high. With the Bank of Canada...
The number of Canadians who blindly trust mortgage rate comparison websites is staggering. This year, almost two million households will renew or take out a new mortgage. Of these, CMHC found that over 78% who research mortgages online compare interest rates. The majority of these folks, those who visit a rate comparison website, are simply not being shownthe market’s best...
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