Not all rate hikes are created equal + MORE Nov 18th

Obtaining a mortgage or secured line of credit in Canada at the best rates is often a daunting task. We can help! Read the articles below for more info.
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New Mortgage Rules Improving Credit Quality, BoC Says + MORE Nov 18th

Mortgage rules implemented over the past two years, along with rising interest rates, have worked to improve credit quality and reduce the number of highly indebted borrowers in the market. That’s according to a Bank of Canada research paper released this week and co-authored by bank staffers Olga.... More »
RBC Second of the Big Banks to Hike Mortgage Rates
Mortgage rates still remain low overall, but another major bank has announced a rise in mortgage rates, effective immediately. In a statement earlier this week, Royal Bank of Canada says it has raised its special offer five-year fixed mortgage rate to 2.94 per cent, and its four-year rate to 2.79 per cent – an increase of 30 basis points. Three-year fixed rates have also increased by 25 basis points to 2.69 per cent.
For amortizations greater than 25 years, the jump is even steeper. The five-year and four-year rates have risen by 40 basis points to 3.04 per cent and 2.89 per cent, respectively. The three-year fixed rate product has gone up by 35 basis points to 2.79 per cent.
Also read: TD Canada Trust hikes prime mortgage rate – what’s next?
How Will this Change My Mortgage?
To find out how much more these products will cost homebuyers, we used RateSupermarket.ca’s mortgage payment calculator to crunch some numbers. Therefore, if we take the average Canadian home price which currently stands at $481,994 and assume that a buyer puts 20 per cent down, these new rates will amount to this individual paying the following on a 25-year amortization:

Five-year fixed rate mortgage: $59 more monthly, $703…

Continue Reading On ratesupermarket.ca »

Not all rate hikes are created equal(Getty Images / Nigel Carse)
Shopping for a mortgage, these days, is a lot like shooting those tin ducks at the carnival.
The game looks easy enough. Just aim, focus on the duck you want, then squeeze the trigger and…miss. Getting a locked-in, guaranteed, pre-approval rate also looks easy; turns out it may not be. Plus, there appears to be a bit of market jostling going on in the background—the banking sector’s equivalent of a carnival barker, the person tasked with luring in the business.
To help, here’s what you need to know in the days and weeks ahead, while shopping for a mortgage.
No pre-approvals offered
If you’re worried about rates rising before signing your official mortgage documents, get a pre-approval. Just don’t be surprised if the best rates in the market—rates that hover between 2% and 2.5%—are off the table. Offered by mono-lenders—finance companies that specialize in the mortgage sector (and many of them are funded by big banks)—these rates don’t come with pre-approvals…

Continue Reading On moneysense.ca »

The New Mortgage Rules: One Month Later
November 17th marks the one-month anniversary since some of the new mortgage rules came into effect. These rules were introduced mainly as a way to slow down the red-hot real estate markets in Toronto and Vancouver. Both cities have seen double digit price appreciation year over year in recent months.
Vancouver has seen its fair share of new rules to slow down the real estate market. First, a 15 per cent foreign buyer’s tax was introduced in B.C.. Now, councillors within the city itself have approved a one per cent tax on homes left empty for six months or more, provided they are not the owner’s principal home. Sales have slowed somewhat in recent months, but prices have yet to come down. That’s  a different story from Toronto, which in October saw home prices jump a whopping 21 per cent year over year.
Although the new mortgage rules were designed to orchestrate a “soft landing,” they’ve been criticized for hitting first-time homebuyers where it hurts: their purchasing power…

Continue Reading On ratesupermarket.ca »

A sudden interest rate increase that spikes borrowing costs, causes a big drop in house prices and leads to the failure of a domestic financial institution could cost Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. more than $1 billion in losses, the federal agency says.

Continue Reading On cbc.ca »

Sudden Interest Rate Hike Could Tank House Prices 30%: CMHCOTTAWA — Canada’s federal housing agency says a sudden rise in interest rates could cause house prices to plummet 30 per cent, according to a stress test it conducted.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says it could withstand such a scenario, but its mortgage insurance business would incur $1.13 billion in losses.

Read more:

It Begins: TD Bank Hikes Mortgage Rates In Wake Of New Rules

Read more:

RBC To Increase Fixed Mortgage Rates

Read more:

Bond Markets’ $1-Trillion ‘Trumpflation’ Wipeout A Bad Sign For Canadian Housing

CMHC tested its mortgage loan insurance and securitization businesses against several extreme scenarios, including a U.S.-style housing correction, a high-magnitude earthquake that destroys critical infrastructure and a prolonged plunge in oil prices of between US$20 to $30 per barrel.

The agency published the results of these tests but noted that none of the scenarios should be considered a prediction or a forecast.

A for sale sign displays a sold home in a development in Ottawa on July 6, 2015…

Continue Reading On walletpop.ca »

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