CAAMP the national organization for mortgage brokers has released the results from a recent survey.
The average mortgage interest rate for home owners’ mortgages is 4.83%, a
reduction from 5.41% in the fall 2008 survey. The full report will be covered on the Vancouver Mortgage Insights blog. You can get up to date fully discounted rates at the Vancouver Mortgage rate page.
• Looking further, at borrowers who have renewed or refinanced a mortgage during the
past year, the average interest rate is now lower (by almost 1 percentage point) than
the rates prior to renewal. Among borrowers who renewed, 72% saw their interest
rate fall, 22% saw increases, and 6% had no change. For borrowers who saw their
interest rates increase at renewal, the increases were minor for most. It is estimated
that about 50,000 to 100,000 of these borrowers had their rates increase by more
than 1 percentage point. This amounts to less than 2% of the 5.35 million Canadian
home owners who have mortgages.
• The survey also sheds light on the extent of mortgage rate discounting in Canada.
Borrowers who have taken five year, fixed rate mortgages during the past year have
an average mortgage interest rate of 4.91%. Typical advertised rates averaged
6.59% over the same period – these borrowers have negotiated discounts that
average 1.68 percentage points below typical advertised rates.
The interesting point for the writer was the level of discounting for most consumers was that rates were above what would have been offered by a mortgage broker. It is clear that the banks are holding on rates and consumers are willing to pay.
Duncan Seward is a Vancouver mortgage broker. Mortgage BC is the focus of his business. He is an expert in bad credit mortgage refinance applications. Poor credit loans need not be a concern to clients with a damaged credit histories.
Interest rates have taken a tumble again as the Bank of Canada reduced it’s prime rate to .25%.