Are you in a Variable Rate Mortgage?

If you're in a fixed rate mortgage, this news does not impact you. Mind you 'impact' is too strong a word to use for the subtle shift in the Bank of Canada rate that occurred this past Wednesday.

In Short

The math is as follows:

A payment increase of ~$13.10 per $100,000.00 of mortgage balance. (unless you are with TD or a specific Credit Union, in which case payments are fixed and change only at your specific request)

i.e. – A mortgage balance of $400,000.00 will see a payment increase of ~$54.40 per month

Personally, we are staying variable, for a variety of reasons...


The Long Version

Qualification for variable rate mortgages has been at 4.64% or higher for some time. This required a household income of greater than $70,000.00 for said $400,000.00 mortgage .

Can 99% of said households handle a payment increase of $54.40 per month? Yes.

Will 99% of households be frustrated with this added expense? Yes.

Ability and annoyance are not the same thing.

Have these households enjoyed monthly payments up to $216.80 lower than those that chose a fixed rate mortgage originally? Yes.

Are 99% still saving money over having locked into a long term fixed from day one? Yes.

Should You lock in?

A more important question is ‘why did you choose variable rate mortgage to start with’? And this may lead to a critical question ‘Is there any chance you will break your mortgage before renewal’?

The penalty to prepay a variable mortgage is ~0.50% of the mortgage balance.

The penalty to prepay a 5-year fixed mortgage can increase by ~900% to ~4.5% of the mortgage balance. A massive increase in risk.

There are many considerations before locking in, many of which your lender is unlikely to discuss with you. It’s to the lenders advantage to have you locked into a fixed rate, rarely is it to your own benefit.

At the moment decisions are being made primarily out of fear. Fear of $13.10 per month per $100,000.00


What about locking into a shorter term?

Not a bad idea, although this depends on two things:
1. Which lender you are with as policies vary.
2. How many years into the mortgage term you are.

If your net rate is now 2.95%, and have the option of a 2-year or 3-year fixed ~3.00% – this may be a better move than full 5-year commitment.

Do not forget the difference in prepayment penalties, this is significant.

Bottom line – Know your numbers, know your product, and stay cool.

These are small and manageable increases.

P.S.

It was a bit disappointing to see logic and fairness fail to enter the picture, after the last two Federal cuts to Prime in 2015 of 0.25% each the public received cuts of only 0.15% each time.

Every single lender moved in unison, not one dropped the full 0.25%.

Amazingly, not a single lender saw fit to increase rates by the exact same 0.15% on the way back up. Every lender has instead increased by 0.25% - a full 100% of the increase passed on to you, the borrower.

Not cool man, not cool at all.

We share all the pain of increases, and get only part of the pleasure of decreases.

-Dustan Woodhouse

Posted by Steven Porter. Steven is a licensed Mortgage Agent with Mortgage Architects, Certified Reverse Mortgage Specialist (CRMS); Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES) and Accredited Buyer Representative (ABR) and real estate broker-consultant with 30 years experience in residential real estate. Steven can be reached at 1-905-875-2582; Steven@1800Mortgages.ca or online at 1800Mortgages.ca

To Bond or Not to Bond

For decades, most home mortgage loans made in Canada were made by the big banks and other “A” lenders and guaranteed through mortgage default insurance backed by the government’s housing agency, CMHC. In late 2016, government regulators tightened the requirements for borrowers qualifying for that insurance, resulting in more people doing without it.

Approximately three-quarters of the mortgages made by federally regulated banks last year didn’t have government backed mortgage default Insurance. Nearly half the nation’s $1.5 trillion CDN home loans are now uninsured against default according to Bloomberg News. For lenders, consumers’ growing demand for loans with no government backed insurance creates a problem .... mortgage funding.

“The market has to come up with a solution. Otherwise there will be no financing available for mortgages.” says Moti Jungreis, head of global markets at Toronto-Dominion Bank’s TD Securities

Under the new Canadian mortgage rules, it could make sense for more lenders to package uninsured mortgages into bonds, which over time could become a cheaper and more reliable form of funding while giving a boost to the Mortgage bond market.

Without that backing, banks and other lenders will have to rely on deposits, asset-backed commercial paper, and other forms of funding that can be more expensive and less accessible, particularly for smaller, non-bank lenders. That’s why it could make more sense for lenders to package uninsured mortgages into bonds, which over time could become a cheaper and more reliable form of funding.

Is this an immediate Fix? “NO”. This solution will take time for both lenders and investors to learn and adapt. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Adapted by Steven Porter, Mortgage Agent with Mortgage Architects.
Steven can be reached through his website at www.1800Mortgages.ca