The announcement of a new CMHC First-Time Home Buyers Incentive Plan represents a shared equity mortgage program that would give eligible first-time homebuyers the ability to lower their borrowing costs by sharing the cost of buying a home with CMHC. The incentive would provide funding (equity sharing) of up to five percent of the purchase price of an existing home, … Read More

Statistics Canada says the amount Canadians owe relative to their income ticked higher in the fourth quarter of last year as the growth in debt slightly outpaced income growth. The agency says that seasonally adjusted household credit market debt, as a proportion of disposable income, increased to 178.5 per cent in the fourth quarter. That compared with a revised reading … Read More

The Bank of Canada today maintained its target for the overnight rate at 1 ¾ per cent. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 2 per cent and the deposit rate is 1 ½ per cent. Recent data suggest that the slowdown in the global economy has been more pronounced and widespread than the Bank had forecast in its January Monetary Policy Report(MPR). While the … Read More

Why do we stay with them? Complacency is a big reason. A lack of knowledge is another. By: Justin Thouin  Via: Huffpost Whenever one of these major Canadian banks tweak their mortgage rates, it makes headlines. Like last month, when RBC dropped its five-year fixed-term mortgage rate by 0.15 percentage points (or 15 basis points) to 3.74 per cent. Every major news outlet … Read More

Royal Bank of Canada has lowered its posted five-year fixed rate by 15 basis points from 3.89 per cent to 3.74 per cent. Mortgage rate comparison website founder Robert McLister says RBC is the first of the Big Six banks to cut its advertised five-year fixed rate after a fall in five-year bond yields. McLister adds that he expects other big … Read More