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Experts weigh in on Metro Vancouver housing market forecasts for 2012
Tsur Somerville may be the director of UBC’s Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate, but he gave a rather surprising answer when asked about the prospects for Metro Vancouver’s housing market in 2012. “We start off by saying I have no idea,” Somerville told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview. For him, forecasting is a..
read more →Variable Discounts Turn to Premiums
In the last few days, RBC and Scotiabank have eliminated their advertised variable-rate discounts. They’re now promoting variable mortgages at prime + 0.10%, twenty basis points more than their previous “special offers.” Prime + 0.10% (i.e., 3.10%) is an interesting number. A few months ago consumers thought that fat variable-rate discounts were here to stay. Variables above prime will..
read more →Bank Of Canada Predicted To Cut Interest Rate
Two economists predict the Bank of Canada will slash its benchmark interest rate from its current level of one per cent next year. Bank of America economist Sheryl King said Wednesday she expects that the central bank will cut the rate to 0.25 per cent by early next year. King, head of Canada economics at..
read more →Flaherty rules out mortgage rule tightening
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty dismissed speculation about a Canadian housing bubble, telling reporters in New York on Wednesday that he sees no need to tighten the country’s mortgage rules further. “We have seen in the past year some softening in the Canadian housing market, in part due to the tightening of the insured mortgage market..
read more →RBC Signals That VRMs Too Costly
RBC, the nation’s biggest mortgage lender, has cut its variable rate discount by 0.20 percentage points. The change is effective tomorrow. That lifts its advertised variable rate from 2.35% (prime – 0.65%) to 2.55% (prime – 0.45%). Given that lenders travel in packs, it’s not unlikely that some other banks and non-banks will follow suit..
read more →Lower mortgage rates may be on the horizon, expert says
House hunters worried about being pushed out of the market by higher mortgage rates received a little good news this week. The turmoil inflicted on world financial markets over the last two weeks is taking the pressure off bankers to raise interest rates, something that was expected to happen this fall. “What everyone was anticipating..
read more →Why Canadian mortgage rates are on a roller coaster
If there’s one question being kicked around the barbecue more than any other this summer, it’s probably this: should I lock in my variable rate mortgage? But with interest rates bouncing around, to the point where they make a mortgage-rate chart look more like the diagram of a rollercoaster, homeowners can be forgiven if they..
read more →Canadian Mortgage Rate Forecast
Over the past few months, major economists have backpeddled on their rate hike predictions. Not long ago, the consensus of economists was projecting a July 19 increase. Now, those same analysts aren’t looking for a rate bump until this fall…or later. Here’s a chart from BMO illustrating how fast rate hike expectations have waned. A..
read more →Prediction for BoC rate hike say September
Tomorrow the Bank of Canada is meeting to review the prime rate. TD, Royal Bank, and BMO have pushed out their expectations of a rate increase to September, sighting the following factors, “With signs the U.S. and global economies have entered a soft patch and the European debt crisis continuing to roil, most economists do..
read more →TD: BoC rate increase pushed to Sept
The Bank of Canada will keep its key policy rate on hold at one per cent until September, TD Bank predicted Tuesday as it pushed back its expectations for the next rate hike from July. However, TD said it still believed the central bank’s overnight rate would be 1.75 per cent by the end of..
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