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December 11, 2017

The Bank of Canada Remains Cautious … For at Least As Long as Rising Wage Pressures Will Allow

The Bank of Canada (BoC) left its policy rate unchanged last week, as expected. In its accompanying statement the Bank explained how developments both at home and abroad have influenced its overall economic view and today’s post will unpack this brief but detailed assessment by highlighting five key observations for anyone keeping an eye on Canadian mortgage rates: I am an independent full-time mortgage broker and industry insider who helps Canadians from coast to coast. If you are purchasing, refinancing or renewing your mortgage, contact me or apply for a Mortgage Check-up to obtain the best available rates and terms.
November 27, 2017

The Mortgage Rule Changes That Need to Be Changed

On January 1, 2018, our regulators will implement a sixth round of mortgage rule changes as part of their ongoing attempts to slow our economy’s rate of mortgage debt accumulation. While I agree in principle with their instincts and with their earlier changes, I take issue with their most recent methodology. For example, in a recent post I criticized the decision to use an average of the posted rates at the Big Six Banks to set the stress-test rate, because posted rates aren’t actually used for lending and because relying on rates from a sub-group of lenders effectively means that the regulator is delegating de facto control over consumer access to mainstream borrowing. I also questioned whether 4.99% was the right rate to use and called on our […]