The country’s largest mortgage lender was hemorrhaging market share in 2016. At the time, it was a grave worry in RBC management circles — as mortgages are a foundational business. Home loans are often the first entry into a customer’s wallet. They provide significant returns on equity and they come with high borrower retention rates (more than 90% of RBC’s...

At the time this is being written (10:45 p.m. ET March 29), the top five most popular rates on our site are floating rates. It’s the first time we’ve seen this in weeks. And those numbers are based on tens of thousands of visitor clicks. Given that fixed rates usually dominate, what does this suggest? Well, among other things, it...

Canada’s best 5-year fixed rates are now north of 1.50% — for the first time since September. The lowest 5-year fixed rate in the nation is at 1.59% (for high-ratio mortgages in Ontario only). This rate may disappear this week, given it is priced aggressively under the market considering lender funding costs. On the uninsured side, HSBC’s fixed-rate hikes on...

The Mortgage Report: Mar. 17 Fed boss Jerome Powell pledged Wednesday that he would not hike U.S. interest rates “preemptively based on forecasts.” In saying that, the Fed once again left U.S. rates unchanged. But more importantly, it left its general rate outlook unchanged, meaning a consensus of its members still project no Fed rate increases through 2023. If history...

Fixed mortgage rates look like a runaway train. Thanks to Friday’s epic jobs report, the 5-year government bond yield, a leading indicator of fixed rates, closed the week above 1.00% for the first time in a year. That coincided with a barrage of new fixed-rate hikes at the big banks. Most major banks internally elevated their fixed rates this week...

In brief Today’s Announcement:No change to rates Overnight rate:0.25% Prime Rate:2.45% (also no change; seePrime Rate) Market Rate Forecast:No BoC hikes until first-half 2022 BoC’s Headline Quote: “While economic prospects have improved, the Governing Council judges that the recovery continues to require extraordinary monetary policy support.” BoC on the Economy: “GDP growth in the first quarter of 2021 is now...

The Mortgage Report: March 3 “Interest rate risk could rise if the economy outperforms expectations,” said RBC Economics on Tuesday, as the bank raised three of its special fixed rates: 3yr: 2.19% to 2.24% 4yr: 2.09% to 2.29% 5yr: 2.04% to 2.24% That leaves just CIBC with advertised 5-year fixed rates under 2.00%. But advertised and reality are two different...

Monday was a reprieve from surging rates in the bond market. Canada’s 5-year swap rate, a good lead indicator of fixed mortgage pricing, fell back towards earth after February’s parabolic surge. So far, four of the Big 6 banks have boosted fixed rates following that leap in funding costs. Here are some of the big names that jacked up fixed...

More banks raised their internal mortgage pricing this weekend, including Scotiabank. (See: Big Bank Mortgage Rates) Its move followed TD’s fixed-rate hike on Friday. Scotia, the largest bank in the mortgage broker channel, boosted multiple fixed rates, but actually lowered its variable rates. That seems to be the playbook now as banks try to entice people to float their mortgages...

If you’ve never seen B.C.’s Squamish Chief, it’s an imposing mass of sheer cliff. And Canadian interest rates look like they’re climbing it. The 5-year government yield, which leads fixed mortgage rates, is going straight up. It hasn’t moved this much within a nine-day span in a decade (November 2010, based on closing prices). At 0.94%, it’s now doubled since...