Record low rates for the foreseeable future.
That’s the headline for this brief mortgage update as we head into the beginning of fall.
Unlike the WE Charity scandal, there are no secrets here and it’s widely understood that rates have continued to steadily drop since the beginning of April, and the majority of customers are now finding themselves looking at rates below 2% on most five year mortgages.
The Bank of Canada met on September 9th and kept their overnight rate steady at 0.25%, which means that there is no change to the Prime rate which affects variable and line of credit rates. In their message, they indicated a long road to recovery, much of which will be dictated by a potential second wave of Covid-19 as well as the reaction of businesses and consumers once the government assistance programs dry up this fall.
The expectation is that there will continue to be no increases to Prime for the remainder of the year, and at least all of 2021 as well. This means that anyone with a variable rate should have no concerns their rates will be rising any time soon.
Fixed rates are also at record lows, hovering around the 2% range, if not lower. Could they drop even further? I don’t think that’s out of the question at all, especially if we see another wave of Covid-19 and shut downs of businesses once again.
Similar to most restaurant businesses right now, things are, for the most part, business as usual, with a few caveats. Subject removals are still happening within a 5 day period on the majority of purchases and we are seeing some relief to the policy tightening that occurred back in March. There is still heavy scrutiny on employment and consistency in a customer’s YTD earnings, especially for self employed individuals. However, proper documentation always curbs any concerns that the lender may have.
Now is a great time to review your current mortgage if you have one. Anyone with rates north of 3% should already be refinanced into something lower; we are now beginning to look at restructuring the ones in the high-2s as well. If there is any outside or consumer debt that is nagging away at you, it’s a no-brainer to be looking to consolidate that stuff right now and free up your monthly cash flow.
I was hoping to have a Canucks game to watch this evening. Unfortunately I will be resorting to watching an America’s Got Talent results episode 🙁
If anyone has any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
By Jeff Ingram – 604-763-4647 – Jeff@IngramMortgageTeam.com www.ingramreversemortgage.com
