This Week in Rates The big promo launched this week was CIBC’s 4-year teaser special. You get 1.99% for the first nine months and 2.83% for the next 39 months, for a 2.69% APR. But does anyonereally likea tease? Compare this offerto4-year terms at 2.39% or less, which havebetter penalty provisions to boot. Teasers rarelymake sense unless: a) the APR...
Don’t pop the Dom Pérignonjust yet, but rates on Canada’s most popular term—the 5-year fixed—havedroppedin the lasttwo weeks. And it’s hightime they did. Government bond yields have trendedbelow their three-month average since December. (Bond yields and mortgage rates have a cozy relationship since lenders commonly price fixed mortgages against bond rates.) As usual, the Spy’s crack intelligenceteam brings you the...
It got sort ofugly out there this week.Oil prices sank to dozen-yearlows, swap rates(which guidefixed mortgage rates) fell torecord depths and stocks tanked, before eventually recovering. Often times, market action like thisleads to cheapermortgages. But these days lendersaren’t about to drop their pants on rates.They have other problems. Investors are gettingscared. Check out this measure of credit riskin the interest...
It finally happened. After a year of bouncing off the 0.50% range, the 5-year government bond yield finally closed below it. The last time that happened was…never. Canada’s 5-year government yield (which guides fixed mortgage rates) closed even lower than the Bank of Canada’s overnight target. In other words, the rate to lend for five long years is less than...
When it comes to getting the lowestmortgage rate, where you live matters. Someone searching RateSpy.com from Halifax, for example, sees 2.49% astoday’slowest5-year fixed mortgage rate.Meanwhile, someone in Vancouver with the exact same qualifications sees2.32%. Both of those rates are clearlyexceptional, but 0.17 percentage points is still0.17 percentage points. We’re talking about $1,593 of interest differential on a standard $200,000 five-year...
“The major banks are raising mortgage rates. Low rates won’t last.” That’s the message people have been fed for the last few months. Well, Meridian is changing the message. Ontario’s largest credit union just announced a strikingly low 1.69% one-year fixed rate. That’s the cheapest standardmortgagein Canada according to RateSpy’s database of 364 lenders and top brokers. Meridian loves being...
It’s fashionable to be negative these days. To have anegative yield, that is. Since 2012, it’s been increasinglycommon forgovernment bonds to have interest rates (yields) below zero. Not only are investors inthose bonds earning no return, they’re actuallypayingto save—i.e., paying for governments to hold their money safely. Mortgage Implications Global yieldsmatter in a mortgage context because fixed rates are closely...
No rate-cut drama today. The Bank of Canada leftits key lending rate at 0.50% this morning, a move expected by about half the market. Mortgage Impact: Banks weren’t aboutto cut prime bymore than 5-15 basis points anyway (a basis point is 1/100th of a per cent), so this news is not overly momentous for variable-rate mortgage holders—not in the near-term...
A feeling or state of nervousness or excitement caused by wondering what will happen. That’s the definition of suspense. And that’s what the financial community is feeling right now about Wednesday’s Bank of Canada rate meeting. Will “ThePoloz” chop the overnight rate in half, from 0.50% to 0.25%? Or will he stickin “wait and see” mode, and hope thedevalued loonie...
It’s been sixwhole days since RBC unexpectedlyhiked mortgage rates, encouraging aherd of banks to follow its lead. But my oh my,how things can change in just oneweek. Interest rates outside the mortgage market haveplummeted and rates areabout to change…again. That’s got many thinking RBC’s rate hikes were just a blip (at least for fixed rates). If you’re a mortgage shopper,...
log in
