New Homes dot the landscape in Middlesex Township, Pa., on Thursday, Apr. 19, 2023.Gene J. Puskar/The Associated Press
Sleepy mortgage rates set for a wake-up call
It was another week where Canada’s leading nationally advertised mortgage rates did absolutely nothing.
Yet.
Fixed rates are in imminent danger of climbing because of inflation chugging an energy drink and unexpectedly surging back to 4 per cent. Bay Street economists expected just 3.8 per cent, while the Bank of Canada was sipping the 3.3-per-cent Kool-Aid with its third-quarter projection.
McLister: Does this tax-deductible mortgage strategy still make sense?
Worse yet, the U.S. Federal Reserve is hinting at another rate hike like a bad poker player with a twitchy eye – and the Fed drives the bus on global interest rates.
The moral of the story: If you need a mortgage in the next four months, apply for a rate guarantee pronto. If the market prices in more inflation, bond yields could spurt higher once again. That, in turn, would drive up fixed rates.
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Rates were sourced from the MortgageLogic.news Canadian Mortgage Rate Survey on Sept. 21, 2023. We include only providers who advertise rates online and lend in at least nine provinces. Insured rates apply to those buying with less than a 20 per cent down payment or switching a pre-existing insured mortgage to a new lender. Uninsured rates apply to refinances and purchases over $1-million and may include applicable lender rate premiums. For providers whose rates vary by province, their highest rate is shown.
Robert McLister is an interest rate analyst, mortgage strategist and editor of MortgageLogic.news. You can follow him on Twitter at @RobMcLister.
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