Canada’s mortgage market was shaken up with a mortgage rate below two per cent on Tuesday as Investors Group unveiled a three-year variable rate mortgage at 1.99 per cent.
The Winnipeg-based financial services firm posted the rate on its website Tuesday, offering a 36-month term at a variable rate 101 basis points below IG’s current prime rate of three per cent.
Mortgage lenders are beginning to ease the restrictive lending standards enacted after the housing boom turned to bust, a sign of their rising confidence in the housing market.
While standards remain tight by historical measures, lenders have started to accept lower credit scores and to reduce down-payment requirements.
Canada’s housing watchdog released a set of long-awaited guidelines for the country’s three mortgage insurers on Monday.
The new guidelines spell out the practices that the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions wants to see from the country’s three mortgage insurers, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., Genworth MI Canada and Canada Guaranty.
Maybe we shouldn’t be all that surprised that mortgages based on a 25-year payment schedule are now part of our retirement picture.
It could be worse. Amortizations were as high as 40 years before former finance minister Jim Flaherty limited the length of loans with government-backed mortgage insurance. But even at 25 years, that means holding debt in retirement if you take on a new mortgage passed age 40 which is increasingly common in Canada.
OTTAWA – The Conference Board isn’t buying the notion that Canada’s housing market will suddenly crumble, saying the most likely outlook is for a modest decline nationally and in some specific markets.
Low mortgage rates tempt, but penalties for breaking can be high
You want some of these record low rates on the market but you’re locked into a mortgage. Just break it, right?