The transition from renting to buying is an important one for many young families, but it can be a confusing time, too, since both sides of the rent-versus-own debate come equipped with facts, numbers and compelling opinions. Conventional wisdom suggests that renting a dwelling is often cheaper than owning, but Royal LePage decided to find…
Now that we are approaching the end of another calendar year, what can the industry start predicting for 2022? Some believe that mortgage rates will rise again. The Bank of Canada’s recent forecast is a good indication of why, said Don Drummond, economist at Queen’s University and former chief economist for TD Bank. The Bank of Canada announced…
Canada plans to increase credit access for the country’s riskiest borrowers in the years to come. A re-elected government may not seem like change, but they promised a big one — larger insured mortgages. High-ratio borrowers will see an increase of up to 25% of their maximum mortgage size. Expansion of credit during a low…
Variable rate mortgages are surging as Canadians pile on the cheap debt, betting that we won’t see a Bank of Canada interest rate hike until the end of next year. The national bank recently noted that more than half of new mortgages made by banks, including renewals and refinances, were variable rates in July. With…
Home sales might be slowing, but Canadians have begun one of the most epic debt binges ever. Bank of Canada (BoC) data shows outstanding residential mortgage credit reached a new record in June. It didn’t just “soar” to that level though. It showed explosive growth, like someone strapped a rocket to it. Canadian mortgage credit has been…
Nobody likes to spend more for their daily expenses, so last week’s news of the 3.7% inflation rate was not well received. According to Statistics Canada, it was the largest annual spike since October 1987. A lot of attention has been paid to the rising costs of food or used cars, as well as in…
Home prices exponentially increasing over the past year have forced a majority of today’s homebuyers to use the maximum mortgage amounts they’ve been approved for. More than 65% of recent buyers bought the maximum amount of house they could afford, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) latest consumer survey. For about 6 in…
Zero down mortgages in Canada are the kind that one typically associates with the reckless housing market that gripped the U.S. around 2005 – 5% cash down and get 3% back; or, even wilder, put down nothing at all. So when these products — and others like them — started popping up in the normally…
When shopping for a mortgage, many homebuyers enlist the services of a mortgage broker to find them the best terms and rates. After the real estate market crash in 2008, however, the business practices of brokers came under scrutiny, and the question of whether they act in customers’ best interests was raised. Working with an experienced, competent…
The Bank of Canada reduces bond purchases, expects economic slack to be absorbed in the second half of 2022 The Bank of Canada (BoC) kept the overnight rate at 0.25% but continued to taper the quantitative easing (QE) program. The Bank reduced the pace of asset purchases from at least $3 billion per week to…
