Based on the article Canadians struggle with high housing costs in the Vancouver Sun, 67 percent of Vancouver households struggle with housing costs, and cited a problem with affordable housing. (I know its a shock that Vancouver housing is unaffordable…try and contain your disbelief). (more…)

Today, Toronto Dominion Bank (TD) and The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) increased their 5 year fixed rates by 0.6%, which is a significant increase. It is expected that other bank lenders will follow with their posted rates. These institutions usually price their discounted mortgage in relation to their posted mortgage rates, so it could be a signal of rate increases to come. (more…)

Today could be the day you save yourself hundreds of dollars a month!

This is a quick note for everyone that has a variable rate mortgage with a bank or credit union. With the anticipated rate increases coming soon and the opportunity to get locked in right now available, many of you may be thinking about locking your mortgage in.
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I came across the article Mortgages still the story of the day for the big banks in the Globe and Mail. It is a long article and the title of the article seems to not be entirely consistent with everything stated in the article (this seems to be pretty common practice in newspaper articles from what I have seen). The article is rather wishy-washy in how it comes to the conclusion of an increase in mortgage rates, but here is the summary:
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I have now had some time to think about and digest more the changes that are coming April 19th to the mortgage rules, the ones that are published, and the ones that aren’t. Everyone is still cloudy on exactly how the changes will be implemented and additionally what effect it will have on the market, especially in Vancouver. (more…)

Another new item of news with mortgage implications has come out today:

Pressure grows for Bank of Canada to hike rates

In sharp contrast to my variable mortgage outlook from one day ago, this new article talks about very strong growth in the Canadian economy the past quarter, and how there is pressure to raise rates as soon as next rate update in 5 weeks from now (the last update happened this morning and mortgage rates were unchanged). (more…)

This is one new article that came across my desk this morning:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100226/business/us_economy

In summary, it is stating that the pace of growth for the US economy for the last quarter of 2009 was 5.9%, beating analyst estimates. Why is a mortgage broker writing a commentary on the US economy? I will tell you in a second. (more…)

http://ca.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idCATRE5BK2FU20091221

I find this to be an interesting article. This is similar to what the government did last year with regards to requiring 5% downpayment and eliminating 40 year amortizations. At that time last year, although it made my job a little more difficult in terms of financing clients, I could understand why they did take those measures and I think things have worked out quite well in terms of stabilizing the Canadian real estate markets. (more…)

Here is some good news for those in variable rate mortgages:

Low rates look safe for a while

Low interest rates and a rising Canadian dollar are giving strong hope that the Bank of Canada prime rate will stay low for the forseeable future. (more…)