As many of you know, my wife and I had our first child a couple of weeks ago (a healthy baby boy, Markus), so if you were wondering where the past 2 “Mortgage Monday” posts were – I skipped them to either a) spend time with my new son and/or b) to sleep. 😉 Needless to say, I’m back for my weekly posts, and have a monthly rate update for you (though there has not been much movement from the stats last month).
- The Bank of Canada interest rate is still holding steady at 1.00%. The last meeting date for 2011 is December 6th (expect it to stay at 1% for a while).
- The Bank of Canada prime lending rate is still 3.00%. The last meeting date for 2011 is December 7th (again, expect that to hold steady at 3% for the time being).
- The qualifying rate (the rate you would need to qualify at for a variable mortgage) for a 5-year mortgage is up .1% to 5.29%.
- The current best variable rate (changes daily) is in the area of prime-0.25% (2.75%), though the discounts are crawling closer and closer to prime and we’re even seeing quite a few lenders at prime+ rates – always contact a mortgage broker for the current best rates for your situation.
- The current best 5-year fixed mortgage rate (changes daily) is in the 3.19% – 3.39% range – again, always contact your mortgage broker for current best rates for your situation.
A couple of weeks ago, CAAMP (The Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals) released its fall consumer report, so as an added bonus, I’ll include some significant statistics from that report as well.
- 22% of mortgages in Canada have amortization periods of more than 25 years, but this number increases to 38% among borrowers who took out a new mortgage on a newly purchased home in 2011
- 78% of borrowers who renewed their mortgage in the last 12 months saw a reduction in their rate
- 71% of borrowers have a high degree of satisfaction with their current mortgage terms
- More than a quarter (27%) of borrowers used a mortgage broker
- Variable rate mortgages are increasing in popularity, with 31% overall; and for those who took out a mortgage in the last 12 months, this rises to 37%
- A vast majority of Canadians have the ability to afford higher mortgage payments: 84% of borrowers can handle an increase of $200 or more per month
- Of the overall housing market, Canadian homeowners have about $2.035 trillion in equity, equivalent to about 68% of the total housing value
- 78% of borrowers who have a mortgage or line of credit on their home have at least 25% equity in their home
- 94% of borrowers have at least 10% equity in their home
Some interesting stats (well, maybe only interesting to those of us in the market…). 😉 If you’re so inclined, you can read the full survey report here.
Can you believe just over a quarter of Canadians used a mortgage broker last year? If you have used one in the past, what was your experience like? If you haven’t, what’s holding you back?
