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Posted Case study

The Big Six have all raised their rates now…

A look at locking into a Fixed rate

By now, you’ve heard that Fixed Mortgage rates have gone up by 0.55% since November…5 year fixed is currently sitting at around 4.04% vs 3.49%.  (these are best broker rates…the best retail bank rates are 4.39%)…. Let’s take a closer look at what this will cost you.

On a $200,000 mortgage with a 25 year amortization, your monthly payment goes up by $58.89 or about $3,500 over a 5 year period.    That’s quite a bit of money…. and this probably gets a lot of us thinking about locking into a 5 year fixed rate….But is this the right strategy for everyone?

For some of us, it will make sense to take a 5 year fixed rate… this is not a bad option for those on a tight budget, pension income, or just can’t sleep at night thinking about rates…  make sure you are locking in for the right reason…

A look at NOT locking into a Fixed rate

Current Variable is 2.25%….  A $200,000 mortgage with a 25 year amortization has lower monthly payments by $185.16.  Okay, I know what you’re thinking and you’re right… this rate will not remain the same for 5 years.. In fact, we know it’s probably going to go up.   So it’s difficult to calculate exactly how much you would save or lose by sticking with a Variable rate…  History shows us Bank Prime goes up and down around 2 to 3 times a year….Look at this chart of Historical Rates. The RBC is forecasting for Bank Prime to go up by 1.00% this year and another 1.50% next year!!  (not sure I agree with this forecast).     If you like flexibility, are willing to tolerate rate movements, and want to take a calculated risk of floating your rate, then Variable could be a great option for you.

Is Variable rate more stable than Fixed rate?

The media keeps telling us mortgage rates are going up.. they will skyrocket….So why are people still considering Variable Rate mortgages?   We looked a little deeper and found some interesting trends…

-From Oct 2008 (the month of the U.S. Mortgage crisis) to Oct 2009, the Bank of Canada only changed Bank Prime 4 times…This was the worst recession since the Great Depression of 30’s….and yet Bank Prime only changed a handful of times….

-the BOC raised rates in 1992 because they thought the economy was strong enough to handle… they quickly lowered them but it was a little late as the economy staggered for another few years… this pattern has repeated itself on more than one occasion…most recently, 2010…

-the BOC forecasted that interest rates would skyrocket in mid to late 2010… they were wrong…

-Variable rate has historically been 1% to 3% lower than fixed rates.

Conclusion….Variable rate moves less often than Fixed rates… And yes, it’s more stable if you measure stability by rate movements… But there will be movement.. and maybe that’s what makes Variable rate a choice for only 25% of Canadians…  Us Canadians are a conservative bunch, or so our rep goes….  And by the way… The Banks would LOVE to have everyone take a 5 year fixed rate.. these are the most profitable mortgage products for them…. Keep that in mind…

Posted Interest rates

Bank of Canada action not always prudent or correct…

Have to share this article giving us some history on the accuracy of the Bank of Canada (BOC)  interest rate forecasts…   This should get you thinking a little the next time you hear the  BOC forecasts…. Take a look at this Historical Rates chart.. look at the Bank Prime section…   You will notice some trends of rates hikes followed by rate drops…

We aren’t saying BOC rates will fall anytime soon… it’s clear the rate will go up…. but there is no straight line increase if you look back in history… Increases are followed by decreases…

-1992.. the BOC erred and raised rates thinking the economy was strong but they quickly retreated and reversed those increases after realizing it was too much, too soon.

-1995…the Quebec referendum year… remember that?  I do.. I bought a house that year… and interest rates went up 1.00% overnight after fears of a Quebec ‘YES’ vote was more than possible… but then rates dropped like a rock and remained low for several years…

-2000….another recession… the dot.com, dot.bomb error of hi-tech stock greed…  rates had climbed in 1998 and 1999 but dropped in 2001 and remained low once again…

-2008…the U.S. mortgage crisis… the worst Global recession since the Great Depression of the ’30s…. we saw BOC drop the rate to a modern-day record low…Bank Prime was 2.25%…

-2010…the BOC kept it’s promise to raise rates and increased the rate by 0.75% over a 3 month span to 3.00%….

-2011…. ?????  the BOC is expected to raise rates by as much as 1.00% this year, and another 1.50% next year, according to the RBC Economist…. Did the BOC raise rates too quickly?  Can our economy absorb these increases?   Questions that won’t be answered for a while…

It doesn’t mean you have to sit and do nothing

But this doesn’t mean you have to stand by and be a spectator.   By keeping informed with historical trends and understanding your own personal situation, you can be in control…. Understand where you fit in… Is Fixed rate better for you now?  Does Variable Rate still make sense for you?   Can you handle the potential increases that are coming?    A good Mortgage Broker can help guide you to the right answer… Remember, it’s your mortgage, your payment…your decision.

Posted Interest rates

Fixed rates are heading up

Fixed mortgage rates are going up.   Already, TD Canada Trust has announced they are hiking rates by 0.25%.  Their new ‘best advertised rate’ is 4.39%.   They are also increasing their 5 year posted rate by 0.25% to 5.44%.  This posted rate is important if you are buying with less 20% down.   All Banks must qualify borrowers with the posted 5 year fixed rate, or the prescribed rate.

The bond market has climbed steadily over the past few weeks… 5 year Canadian Bond yield is at 2.74% today.  That’s an 8 month high.   The last time the bond was this high, the best 5 year fixed rate was 4.29%.

If you’re thinking of buying or refinancing, contact your mortgage broker and get a rate held.   Most Lenders offer a 120 day rate hold…. You can still get a 5 year fixed rate mortgage for under 4.00%.

On the bright side, these rate increases are a direct result of positive economic data that’s been coming out of Canada.  So although we don’t want to pay higher rates, we don’t want to have a weak economy either.

Posted Case study

Listen to the Professor about how to save money.

Professor Moshe Milevsky is regarded as one of Canada’s leading Financial Experts… He’s written several books on building and preserving your wealth.  He’s also done several studies on debt and mortgages.   (make sure to visit his site here)

One of my favorites, and one of his best case studies, called “Why these eggs belong in one basket”, was about a strange phenomenon that seemed unique to Canadians.   We seem to take the rule of diversification and apply it to our debts.   We would rather have a mortgage, a credit card, a car loan, a line of credit, etc…when we should really be looking at consolidating these debts into the lowest possible interest rate.

He concluded that a typical family with $95,000 in total debts, with $2,700 in the bank, is losing about $1,000 per year by diversifying their debts instead of consolidating.   Now apply that to your own situation…. maybe your debts total $300,000 or more, how much are you losing per year?  $3,000, $4,000 per year or more?

I have my own opinion on why, we Canadians, do this… it must have something to do with our being so conservative….  Our parents taught us to pay off our mortgage first… get rid of that mortgage…. This is good advice… but somehow we thought it was okay to buy that car with a loan or a lease.. after all, everyone finances their car, right?   And then there’s the Home Shows on TV… ah yes… We must have the latest in home decor…etc.. you get the picture…Symptoms of the ‘must have now’ generation (a subject for another day).

The Federal Govt thinks Personal Debt levels will go down if we change Mortgage Rules….  By making it harder to get a mortgage, we will slow personal spending habits… My advice is to listen to the Professor…  Take your debt, roll it into your mortgage, pay less interest and save money… It’s really that simple…

Should we encourage home ownership or renting?

I found this article about the effects of making it harder to buy a house….. Here’s one of the statements that got me thinking..  “Rather than buy a home for half a million, many are moving out of the community to rent, or living rent free with their parents and buying all this junk.” I wonder how true this is.   I must admit, I know several people that are living at home in their 30’s, 40’s and even longer…. They don’t seem motivated to buy a house.

Final message is that Debt Consolidation is not a dirty word.   It’s good money management.

Posted 2 Comments on Personal debt level up…uhh, wait.. maybe we made a mistake?! Consumer Debt

Personal debt level up…uhh, wait.. maybe we made a mistake?!

As you know, I have been very critical about the data that was being put out over the past few months regarding Canada’s personal debt levels.. We were being bombarded with reports and comments about our spending habits… I found it hard to believe that we could go from conservative nation to a casino nation in just a few years…

Sure, there is more debt…. Outstanding mortgage balances topped $1trillion for the first time… but we seemed to be growing at a moderate pace, year over year.. We didn’t have the 20% to 30% increases in real estate prices that we saw in 1987-89, or like our neighbors in the U.S. over the past decade.  Meaning there was less chance of a housing bubble or crash.

And what about our assets….?  It was hard to find any report about our net worth or assets…  There was one report from Ben Tal, Senior Economist CIBC, that didn’t get much notice but we reported it here on December 3rd…  here are some of those stats…

-there are 12.5million households in Canada…31% rent, 69% own..

-of the 69% that own, 39.9% have a mortgage and 28.9% have no mortgage.

-69% of homeowners with a mortgage have more than 20% equity in their homes… only 30% have less than 20% equity in their homes.

click here for the full story..

And now for the real stats

Personal debt to disposable income ratio has been reported at 148%… This figure has been recycled more than that gift bag from the wine store you received at Christmas…. and just like that gift bag that gets passed around from friend to friend, it comes with a different bottle… or in this case, different figures and opinions.

Let see how you like this vintage….   Some new reports just came out that should ease our concern about our personal debt levels and average net worth.  “Average household net worth has risen to an impressive six times the size of disposable income, up from an average of five times in the 1990s.”  That’s a quote from BMO’s Senior Economist, Sal Guatieri…  read more here.

What’s this?  You mean Canadians are actually investing their money and not spending it frivolously like the Federal Govt has been telling us for the past several months?

It gets better…

Here’s a little more info from CIBC Bank..   Those figures had to do with the personal tax refunds we were getting last year because of the stimulus packages…. “Household debt in the third quarter grew at the slowest pace in nine years, while in the last month for which there is data — October 2010 — it was the softest in 15 years.” read more here.

That’s right, WE ARE SPENDING LESS AND OUR ASSETS ARE GROWING FASTER THAN IN THE 1990’s. … But how can this be?  The Federal Govt has been telling us that our personal debt levels are at dangerous levels…  and they had to change mortgage rules to slow our spending habits….. Any of this make sense to you?

Here’s an article from Ellen Roseman from The Star that says Canada’s Stock Market has outperformed the U.S. markets for the past 7 years… and we are poised to outperform them for the next 10 years….

Feel good about yourself Canada….. Keep investing… keep borrowing and spending wisely….