By Roy Cocciollo As your mortgage broker, I am already sending you a monthly email newsletter to keep you up to date on the market. But the current mortgage rate news needs special attention. Yet another bank discounted their variable mortgage rates last week. Meanwhile, Canada’s largest lenders all raised their benchmark posted 5-year fixed mortgage rates, signaling a rise in borrowing costs. You are likely asking: “What’s the impact on my variable rate mortgage?” The bottom line: The Prime Rate would have to increase 4 times to get the current variable rates to exceed the current fixed rates. If you have…

By Roy Cocciollo The key question for mortgage borrowers is whether rates will rise this year, and by how much. Since the majority of Canadians opt for five-year fixed-rate mortgages, let’s look at the trend: 1. Five-year fixed mortgage rates bottomed in the low 2% range in the first half of 2017. 2. By the end of 2017, the rates climbed back up to around 3%. 3. This marked the most significant proportional increase that we have seen in fixed rates since the start of the Great Recession. The question remains, do you believe the forecasts? They are calling for significantly higher five-year fixed rates…

By Roy Cocciollo Last month’s blog post helped our clients prepare for the 3 new mortgage rule changes that officially start January 1, 2018. In case you missed it, Paul Taylor (President and CEO of Mortgage Professionals Canada) joined us on Global News Radio, 640 Toronto in October. Watch the video at the bottom of this blog for highlights. Now let’s talk about how these new mortgage rules will shake up the lending market in Canada and have a significant impact of home owners and buyers: 1. The new rules are basically a two-point rate hike Uninsured borrowers can qualify for a mortgage today at…