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Posted Interest rates

A Rate War on Canada Day?

Happy Canada Day Poster. 1st July. Illustration Greeting Card Wi

I’ve never seen more competition with mortgage rates in my 30-year career than I have in the first five months of 2019!

Rates are under 3%!

On May 10th, a new jobs report was released by the federal government showing 106,000 new jobs created in the month of April. This blew away all expectations. And, the reaction was immediate, including higher mortgages being imminent and a bull stock market on the horizon… and yet, this didn’t happen. Continue reading “A Rate War on Canada Day?”

Posted Interest rates

It’s war. Mortgage Rate Wars. You could win with Big Rate Cuts!

Blog Image, Rate Wars, May 2019

We’ve seen mortgage rates drop steadily over the past three months. At the beginning of this year, we saw fixed rates approaching 4%. And, today, we’re seeing them sit around 3%.

WARNING: These rate wars could come to an end as recent employment figures skyrocketed all estimates… stay tuned!

This is like the perfect storm. Fewer mortgage transactions across Canada + Declining investor confidence + Inverted bond yield curve. Put it all together and you get a rate war. And for a refreshing change, consumers aren’t the victims. The banks are settling for a smaller profit margin.

Continue reading “It’s war. Mortgage Rate Wars. You could win with Big Rate Cuts!”

Posted Bank News

Mortgage Rates have Dropped and Will Fall Further

Mortgage shopping

Rate forecasting isn’t rocket science – it’s more common sense than you think! But, it requires a clear mind to make sense of all the rubbish that’s being published these days.

I’ve been forecasting for a while now that interest rates would start to come back down this year. Currently, interest rates are down by around 0.4% and will come down further.

WHY ARE RATES FALLING?  Continue reading “Mortgage Rates have Dropped and Will Fall Further”

Posted 1 Comment on Looking to boost Cash Flow? New Flexible Mortgage could be a game-changer! Money saving tips

Looking to boost Cash Flow? New Flexible Mortgage could be a game-changer!

Blog Image, Interest Only Flex, July 2018There’s a great new flexible interest-only mortgage product that could prove beneficial for a number of borrowers, including first-timers, real estate investors, professionals, seasonal workers and others looking for lower monthly mortgage payments.

Designed to help borrowers increase monthly cash flow by providing maximum flexibility, this product can be used for both purchases and refinances.

I recently tried this product out and was really impressed!

Continue reading “Looking to boost Cash Flow? New Flexible Mortgage could be a game-changer!”

Posted 2 Comments on And the Variable Rate price wars begin… Here’s how you can benefit! Bank News

And the Variable Rate price wars begin… Here’s how you can benefit!

Variable Discounts Image, May 2018In order to fully understand how to take advantage of record-low variable rates, it’s important to learn some mortgage history.

BMO came out swinging first a week ago with a variable rate of Prime minus 1.00%. Historically, when a BIG SIX BANK comes out with a huge price decrease, it’s only for a very short time – likely 2-3 weeks. But, during that time, they can gain massive volumes and satisfy their market share requirements from the average borrower.

With all the talk of interest rates going up, this is welcome news for borrowers. Last week, I wrote about Variable rates at Prime minus 1.09%. This week, the banks have caught on.

Continue reading “And the Variable Rate price wars begin… Here’s how you can benefit!”

Posted 1 Comment on Prime minus 1.09%… Yes, this is a record-low Variable Rate! Interest rates

Prime minus 1.09%… Yes, this is a record-low Variable Rate!

Money TreeQuoting rates isn’t straightforward anymore. Your final rate is based on your credit score, purchase price or home value (homes over $1 million purchased after Oct 17, 2016 have higher rates), the loan to value (mortgages under 65% LTV and above 80% LTV get best rates), location, job type and income confirmation documents.

That’s right… ALL these factors will determine your interest rate!

Today, there’s a great variable rate available at Prime minus 1.09%. That translates to 2.39%. This is a real rate… it’s not a bait-and-switch ad like so many rate-comparison sites are quoting these days.

Continue reading “Prime minus 1.09%… Yes, this is a record-low Variable Rate!”

Posted 2 Comments on Rates are going up… for now… is this the end of low rates? Consumer Debt

Rates are going up… for now… is this the end of low rates?

 Next Wednesday will be the first Bank of Canada meeting date to set the Target rate, which directly affects Bank Prime rate and Variable rate mortgages. It’s almost a certainty that the Bank of Canada Governor, Stephen Poloz, will raise the rates.

POSITIVE DATA MEANS HIGHER RATES

There’s been too much positive economic data lately. Low unemployment levels (5.7%, the lowest since the ’70s), higher spending by consumers, slightly higher inflation (2.1%), record level stock market. We’ve also seen some comments and posturing by the Bank of Canada Govr that suggests we should expect a 0.25% increase.

Bond yields have also been moving steadily upward. Yup, we should expect a rate hike. And depending on how the market reacts to this, we could possibly see another rate hike at the next Bank of Canada meeting on March 7th.

BUT WAIT, IS THIS THE END OF MORTGAGE RATES IN THE 3.00%’s?

Continue reading “Rates are going up… for now… is this the end of low rates?”

Posted Mortgage News

Record low Bond yields means even lower fixed mortgage rates

graph trend downFixed mortgage rates are tied into Govt of Cda bond yields.  As the yields go done, so does the fixed mortgage rates.. well, usually.. more on that later..These bond yields have hit all-time lows in the past week… Yesterday, they were as low as 0.55%...  To put that into perspective, the 5 yr bond yield is lower than the Bank or Canada overnight rate, which now stands at 0.75%.  Another historical event.  That almost never happens.

Check out these 2 historical charts to compare the Bank of Canada rate from 1935 to Dec 2014 and 5 year Govt of Cda bond yield from 1980 to Dec 2014….

If you’re wondering what this means for you, a Canadian consumer, it means mortgage rates should go even lower.   Institutional investors are pricing in a further Bank of Canada rate cut at their next schedule meeting on March 4th, 2015. Continue reading “Record low Bond yields means even lower fixed mortgage rates”

Posted 3 Comments on Variable or Fixed? an update on how to choose. Interest rates

Variable or Fixed? an update on how to choose.

Variable rate mortgage

FIXED OR VARIABLE?

The debate over fixed vs variable never seems to end.   For the past 5 years, the Federal govt and the BIG SIX BANKS have been doing everything in their power to force us into choosing a 5 year Fixed rate.    The govt says it gives us security and protection against the anticipated interest rate hikes.   BANKS jumped on this bandwagon because 5 yr fixed is the most profitable mortgage product.. and with fixed rates hovering at 3.00% for the last 3 years, it’s been an easy sell.

On the surface, it’s not bad advice.    Fixed rates were supposed to go up.   The spread between Fixed and Variable has been less than 1.00% over the last 3 years.     My rule of thumb is that Variable rates should be 1.00% lower than 5 yr fixed in order to benefit from the possible rate fluctuations.   So naturally, 5 yr fixed was a better choice.

DO YOU TRUST YOUR GOVT AND YOUR BANK? Continue reading “Variable or Fixed? an update on how to choose.”

Posted 1 Comment on Long term is almost always more expensive. Mortgage News

Long term is almost always more expensive.

long term contractsEver wanted to change cell phone providers?  How about internet providers?  Move your investments or rrsps?  Cancel that hydro or gas contract because you moved?

And how about mortgages?  When interest rates started heading down about 4 years ago, thousand of borrowers in fixed rate mortgages wanted to get out of their higher rates and start benefiting from the record low interest rates.

But borrowers were shocked to hear of unbelievably high early prepayment penalties…   Penalties of $15,000, $20,000, $30,000.    One recent situation had CIBC charging a $33,000 penalty on a $500,000 mortgage.  I’ve seen dozens and dozens of situations like this.   Almost all of these high penalties were from one of the BIG SIX BANKS…    Continue reading “Long term is almost always more expensive.”

Posted Interest rates

Time to look at Variable Rates again.

Variable rate mortgage

With fixed rates up around 0.60% over the last 4 weeks (currently at around 3.49%.. there are some lower rates but these come with conditions so we are using the more widely available rate) we must again take a look at Variable rates.   Today’s best Variable rate product is sitting at around Prime less 0.40% … there’s even a few promotional Variables at Prime less 0.50% for qualified applicants.   But for this article we will stick with Prime less 0.40%.  That’s 2.60% today.  We are almost at that 1.00% spread that I like to see.

Two years ago, the best Variable rate was at Prime less 0.75% with the option to lock into the BEST discounted fixed rate at any time (this option is important, don’t ever settle for a variable product that doesn’t have this clause).   And 5 years ago, we had Variable rate products as low at Prime less 0.90%. Continue reading “Time to look at Variable Rates again.”

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