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Posted Interest rates

Canadians saved $2.7billion on their mortgage by refinancing or renewing this year.

Variable rate mortgages have been extremely popular.   A study by the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals (CAAMP) showed that 37% of Canadians took a Variable rate last year, compared 31% from the year prior.

And Canadians saved almost $2.7billion by renewing or refinancing their mortgages this year.   Wow, that’s a lot of money… maybe too much?   The banks have put a lot of pressure on borrowers NOT to take Variable… they’ve made it harder to qualify by getting the govt involved and having them qualify all new Variable rate clients with posted 5 year fixed rates…. And most recently, the Banks have jacked up their Variable rate pricing from Prime less 0.75%, 0.80% and even 0.90%, to Prime less 0.00% and even Prime PLUS 0.10%.

Watch for the Banks to hike fixed rates as they aren’t earning enough… or so they tell us…

Posted Mortgage News

Annual CAAMP conference Nov 21-23

The annual Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals (CAAMP) conference is being held this weekend in Montreal.  CAAMP is the National association for Mortgage Brokers and Lenders with over 12,00o members representing over 1,700 companies.

The conference is a great place to see all the Lenders, Mortgage Insurers, Brokers and other industry product suppliers under one roof.   It’s also a great time to hear about new products, trends and Economist’s forecasts for 2011….  (forecasts are difficult to make during a recovery so I’m sure we’ll be paying attention to what is and what is not said).

To me, the best part of the conference  has always been the Trade show or the Expo.  This is where we can meet everyone in one room, at one time… and on a one on one basis….  One suggestion for CAAMP… expand the time of the Trade show…3 hours isn’t enough to visit all the booths…  perhaps cut out some of the speakers…no disrespect intended to the speakers….

For more information visit the conference website at http://www.mortgageconference.ca.

Posted Mortgage News

Annual Mortgage borrowing stats are strong

The Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals (CAAMP) released it’s Annual State of the Residential Mortgage Market in Canada, today.   The stats show that mortgage defaults are not a concern….and Canadians can absorb up to another $300/mth in higher mortgage costs…and we have 72% equity in our homes… wow, that’s quite impressive….

I’m amazed at how the media is reporting these stats… look at this headline “Canadian Mortgage Debt tops $1-Trillion for first time”. Well, here are the highlights of the report… the numbers look good to me…

• 35% of all mortgage holders have either increased their payments or made a lump sum
payment on their mortgage in the last 12 months
• Vast majority of Canadians have ability to afford higher mortgage payments. 84% said
they could handle monthly increases of $300 or more in their monthly payments
• 90% of Canadian homeowners have at least 10% equity in their homes, 81% have over
20% equity
• 70% of Canadians are satisfied with their mortgage terms
• Despite low Bank of Canada interest rates reflected in low variable rate mortgages, a
majority (66%) of Canadians still have a five year fixed mortgage, 29% have variable
mortgages and 4% a combination
• Overall, 22% of mortgages have an amortization of greater than 25 years compared to
18% last year
• Overall home equity is 72%. For homeowners with mortgages, equity level averages
50%
• Mortgage rates continue to drop. Average mortgage rate is 4.22% versus 4.55% last
year. For those who took out a mortgage in the last year, the average rate was 3.75%,
72% of those renewing saw a decrease in their mortgage rate
• Overall, mortgage brokers account for 25% of all mortgages and for new mortgages in the
past year, this number rises to 40%
• As of August 2010, there was over $1 trillion in outstanding residential mortgage credit in
Canada
• Mortgage arrears rate remains stable at 0.42%, lower than for most of the 1990s