—The Mortgage Report: Weekend Edition— Some commentators proclaim that home “prices can only go up,” but HouseSigma’s Market Temperature gauge shows it’s not peaches and cream everywhere. Market Temperature gauges the number of condos sold versus the number of active condo listings (inventory). Month-to-date, it’s plunged to the lowest level in HouseSigma’s records. If we close October at these levels...
—The Mortgage Report: July 14— Reverse Record: Once the scorn of financial planners across the land, reverse mortgages are increasingly becoming cornerstones of retirement planning. The main reason: rates. Equitable Bank just keeps driving reverse mortgage rates lower. Today it launched a barrage of new deals, including a 3.49% one-year fixed. That’s the lowest reverse mortgage rate in Canadian history...
The Mortgage Report – May 28 Now in the 3s: For the first time ever, a Canadian reverse mortgage provider has a 5-year fixed term under 4%. Equitable Bank announced the offer Thursday, which applies to its 5-year “Lump-sum” reverse mortgage. Equitable trimmed all of its other reverse mortgage rates by 15 bps as well. That’s a big win for...
Rate Conversions: Now Over-rated: Today’s best variable rates give borrowers a half-point head start versus a 5-year fixed. If one assumes the latest widely-held rate forecasts are correct (see below), prime – 0.35% or better variables still have a projected edge based on interest cost alone. And many are still willing to make that bet despite rate discounts being 50+...
For the first time on record, a non-promotional reverse mortgage rate is below a standard HELOC rate. EQ Bank, one of only two Canadian lenders offering reverse mortgages, announced a 15-bps drop to all of its rates Thursday, including its already discounted “Lump-Sum” rates that we reported on in December. For the lump-sum withdrawal option, borrowers can now access rates...
For years, seniors, mortgage advisors and financial professionals have complained that reverse mortgage rates are too high. Well, things are looking up. Last month we saw the biggest one-day drop in the industry’s history with Equitable Bank’s new (much lower) “Lump-Sum Reverse Mortgage” rates. Canada’s lowest reverse mortgage rates dropped 60 basis points in one day when Equitable launched that...
It seems you can’t read a story about reverse mortgages these days without some financial expert complaining about their interest rates. Case in point:Financial planner Rob Montague, who tells the Globe‘s Rob Carrick, “My beef with the reverse mortgage is the rate. I believe it is predatory.” Mr.Montague doesn’t share any math to justify his position, but that’s typical. With...
“There should be no shame” in relying on home equity to get you through retirement, said prominent financial commentator, Pattie Lovett-Reid, on BNN Friday. It marked a departure from her prior “bias,” she admitted. Up till now, she viewed reverse mortgages as a “last product of resource” (meaning a financing solution of last resort). Many financial “experts” see reverse mortgages...
Two-thirds of adults are saving for retirement, above and beyond forced-contribution government programs like CPP. That’s the good news. The bad news is that 35% of those approaching retirement (those over 55) have less than $100,000 saved up. $100k won’t get them far over their next 25+ years of life expectancy, even if they’re receiving: Old Age Security and the...
Equitable Bank has slashed its reverse mortgage rates. That’s welcome news for seniors needing to tap home equity, particularly those who can’t qualify for regular financing or don’t want the payments. The company—which has remained in HomeEquity Bank’s shadow—is now working noticeably harder to separate itself from its better-known rival. And its rate cuts this week do just that, assuming...
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