More Banks Increase Fixed-Rate Terms
A day after Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank and Laurentian Bank raised fixed-rate mortgage rates; CIBC, National Bank and The Bank of Nova Scotia have also announced mortgage rate hikes.
The growing speculation over whether or not the Bank of Canada is going to raise the overnight lending rate – potentially ahead of the mid-2010 schedule – is pushing up bond yields and putting pressure on fixed-rate mortgages. According to a senior economist with CIBC World Markets, “this is actually a fairly large increase reflecting what’s happening in the bond market lately”.
So where does that leave rates? While all terms have been increased, the most popular term, the five-year fixed rate is now 5.85 per cent at each of the six banks.
If you have a variable rate mortgage are you looking to lock in or are you going to wait and see what happens next?