November 14, 2016
The growing consensus that a Trump presidency will lead to higher bond yields, and by association higher mortgage rates, has me scratching my contrarian itch.
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November 7, 2016
Last Tuesday, TD Canada Trust increased its mortgage prime rate (which is the rate that it uses to price its variable-rate mortgages) from 2.70% to 2.85%. In today’s post, I’ll provide a quick example to illustrate the impact of this change, and offer an insider’s point-of-view on why there was more to it than first meets the eye.
October 31, 2016
In future, instead of relying on the traditional Consumer Price Index (CPI) total inflation and core inflation statistics, the Bank of Canada will now use three more detailed measures called CPI-common, CPI-trim and CPI-median. Today's post explains.
October 24, 2016
The most recent MPR was best summed up by BoC Governor Poloz during his press conference, when he said that the report forecasted “a lower profile for economic growth, an extended period of economic slack, and a later return of inflation to the 2% target.” His statement, at the accompanying press conference, provided us with another example of the Bank’s favourite monetary-policy tool of late: jawboning.
October 19, 2016
In Part Four, I propose three tweaks that I think our policy makers should make to these latest rounds of mortgage rule changes. Not that they asked mind you - I haven’t found any industry insiders who were consulted before these changes were announced, but here’s hoping they’re open to suggestions and that they read my posts!
October 17, 2016
In today’s post, Part Three, I’ll explain why I support the view that more changes were necessary and I’ll offer my take on the longer-term impacts that these specific changes will have on our borrowers, lenders, and housing markets. Then I’ll close by offering my opinion on whether our policy makers got these changes right.
October 11, 2016
If the first mortgage rule change raised the qualifying bar for mortgage insurance, the second wave of rule changes completely eliminates mortgage insurance for certain categories of borrowers. To be clear, these changes don’t mean that affected borrowers won’t still have access to mortgages, but they do mean that these borrowers will have fewer options than before and should expect to pay rates that are higher than the lowest available.
October 5, 2016
Yesterday our federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced a series of changes to the rules used to underwrite insured mortgages. There is a lot to unpack so I’ll do it in three installments: Part One will focus on the change that will take place on October 17, Part Two will cover the changes that will take place on November 30, and Part Three will offer my take on the longer-term impacts that these changes will have on Canadian borrowers and our housing markets across Canada.