Posts from the ‘Monday Morning Mortgage Rate Updates’ Category

To kick off 2017, in today’s post we’ll take a look at how the world’s largest economies are likely to impact Canadian mortgage rates in the year ahead. While it may not seem obvious at first glance, events in far off places can and do impact the rates we pay on our mortgages.

In today's post I explain why the Fed's first policy rate increase in years should increase the appeal of variable-rate mortgages for Canadian borrowers.

Last week the Bank of Canada (BoC) announced that it would leave its overnight rate unchanged, as was widely expected, and in its accompanying statement the Bank explained how current economic momentum, both at home and abroad, has contributed to its cautious overall view. Here are the highlights from the BoC’s latest statement, along with my take on the implications for both our fixed and variable mortgage rates.

The futures market is now giving 94% odds that the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise its policy rate when it next meets on December 13, 2016. While there is still much debate about whether the U.S. economy is ready for higher rates, the Fed seems determined to follow through, if only to restore some policy flexibility for fighting the U.S. economy’s next recession. This sets up an interesting test for Government of Canada (GoC) bond yields, which have moved in virtual lockstep with their U.S. equivalents since the start of the Great Recession in 2008.

In a little over a week, on Wednesday, November 30, the next round of mortgage-rule changes will take effect, and while we can’t predict exactly what the impacts will be for every lender, we do know that our mortgage market will begin to look different.

The growing consensus that a Trump presidency will lead to higher bond yields, and by association higher mortgage rates, has me scratching my contrarian itch.

Last Tuesday, TD Canada Trust increased its mortgage prime rate (which is the rate that it uses to price its variable-rate mortgages) from 2.70% to 2.85%. In today’s post, I’ll provide a quick example to illustrate the impact of this change, and offer an insider’s point-of-view on why there was more to it than first meets the eye.