As widely anticipated, the Bank of Canada today increased its prime rate to 2.75%, affecting variable mortgages. The Bank of Canada is the first central bank in the G7 to raise rates once, let alone twice as they have did for the first time 5 weeks ago. (more…)

On the Globe and Mail website today is a segment in which a reader poses a question about her financial situation and a financial planner provides some advice.

In this segment, a 57 year old woman on disability with some savings, some equity in a condominium and a fairly manageable mortgage asks how to best go about her finances when it comes to retirement. (more…)

In this article on the Globe and Mail today, they talk compare sales from this past June with the June of 2009, and that sales are down about 30% from last June. They correctly attribute the slower market (in my opinion) to the mortgage lending rule changes that were made in April. The market saw an increase in sales prior to the mortgage changes, and has seen a decrease in sales since the changes have been made.

The interesting part in the article is that (more…)

The bank of Canada has decreased the their 5 year qualifying rate to 5.79%. This is the rate that “A” mortgage lenders have to use in their calculations when qualifying for variable rate mortgages or fixed rate mortgages where there is less than 20% equity in the home.

This change is often a reflection of the economy and bond markets. This will result in it being slightly easier to obtain a variable rate mortgage or shorter term fixed rate mortgage. The rate is also largely followed by the chartered banks posted mortgage rates.

I came across this interesting article today that talks about the struggles in the US mortgage industry and housing market and also contrasts this to Canada. There has been a lot of news lately about US housing and mortgages being a large mess and continuing to be so almost 2 years after the initial hit, and how it is slowing economic recovery in the US. The most interesting part of the article for most Canadians is where they talk about Canada and the difference in mortgage lending between Canada and the US. (more…)

There is a news report today following a report from Statistics Canada stating that the Canadian economy added 93,000 jobs in the month of June pushing unemployment rates to their lowest levels in 1 1/2 years. Unfortunately for most people in Vancouver and BC, the job gains were mostly in Ontario and Quebec, where most of the job losses happened in the recession of late 2008. (more…)

I came across this article in the Financial Post today that confirms some of the things I have been writing previously, and makes some interesting points about clients renewing their mortgages, and the handcuffs that the changes have placed on those renewing their mortgages that they qualified for with the looser mortgage rules previously. (more…)

The Bank of Canada made a decision to keep the prime lending rate as it is for now, but removed the guarantee that mortgage rates will stay low through to July. This is a strong indication that the Bank of Canada will increase their prime rate by at least 0.25% at the next update in June. (more…)

Based on the article Canadians struggle with high housing costs in the Vancouver Sun, 67 percent of Vancouver households struggle with housing costs, and cited a problem with affordable housing. (I know its a shock that Vancouver housing is unaffordable…try and contain your disbelief). (more…)