BoC Increasingly Likely to Deliver a Surprise Rate Cut This Week Growing fallout from the coronavirus—including tanking stock markets and falling oil prices—means the Bank of Canada is increasingly likely to cut interest rates this week. Just days ago, the market consensus was that the Bank of Canada would wait until its April meeting before […]

Have Questions About the New Stress Test Rate? Here Are Some Answers… The Department of Finance created shockwaves this week with its announcement that it will be revamping how insured mortgages are stress tested. Now that the dust has settled, here’s a more in-depth look at the implications, as well as some industry reaction. But first, a […]

Department of Finance Announces New Qualifying Rate for Insured Stress Test The federal government announced on Tuesday it will be changing the benchmark qualifying rate used for Canada’s insured mortgage stress test. The change, which will take effect April 6, 2020, means borrowers with insured mortgages (typically those with less than 20% equity) will need […]

MORNEAU EASES STRESS TEST ON INSURED MORTGAGES Minister Morneau Announces New Benchmark Rate for Qualifying For Insured Mortgages The new qualifying rate will be the mortgage contract rate or a newly created benchmark very close to it plus 200 basis points, in either case. The News Release from the Department of Finance Canada states, “the […]

JANUARY HOME SALES SLOW MOSTLY OWING TO A DEARTH OF NEW LISTINGS Home Sales Slip A Bit In January As Supply Tightens Pushing Up Prices Statistics released today by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) show that national existing-home sales dipped between December and January owing to a dearth of new listings, especially in the […]

TD Bank Cuts Its 5-Year Posted Rate After six long months of no changes to the big banks’ posted rates, TD Bank broke the ice on Tuesday by lowering its 5-year posted rate to 4.99% from 5.34%. While the big banks adjust their “special” rates regularly (as RBC did last week), changes to their higher […]

TD LOWERS QUALIFYING MORTGAGE RATE 35 BPS TO 4.99% TD LOWERS POSTED MORTGAGE RATE TO 4.99% Market interest rates have fallen sharply since the coronavirus-led investor flight to the safety of government bonds. The 5-year government bond yield–a harbinger of conventional mortgage rates–now stands at 1.34%, down sharply from the 1.60+% range it was trading […]

CMHC’s First-Time Home Buyer Incentive Off to a Slow Start Four months after its official launch, CMHC’s First-Time Home Buyer Incentive had funded just 4% of its three-year goal, according to new data provided by the agency. From the time the down payment assistance program launched on Sept. 2 to Dec. 9, CMHC received just 3,252 […]

INTEREST RATES PLUNGE ON CORONAVIRUS NEWS; BOC BUYS 10-YEAR CMBS; FTHBI PLAN FLOPS Canadian 5-year Yield Fell To Lowest Level Since October Global investors are selling stocks and piling into the safety of bonds in response to fears that the Wuhan coronavirus could disrupt global economic activity. Gold prices, another haven, have also risen. The Government of […]

Latest in Mortgage News: Fixed Mortgage Rates Could Fall Over Coronavirus Fears As fear grows over the deadly Wuhan coronavirus that has killed more than 100 people, it is now becoming the world’s⁠—and Canada’s⁠—latest economic headwind. That fear spread to financial markets on Monday, with the TSX falling 142 points and New York’s Dow Jones […]