Find out by how much mortgage rates changed…
February only saw two fluctuations in the best available mortgage rate in Canada, a pace 50% slower than the same month last year, according to nesto’s latest market analysis.
However, Canada recently saw its first rate increase “in a very long time, and a substantial one at that.”
“The recent increase in fixed rates is in response to the growing belief that US inflationary pressures will rise quickly,” nesto explained. “In turn, the five-year Government of Canada (GoC) bond yield surged higher. The five-year GoC Bond holds a lot of influence over the fixed rate offers in our mortgage market place. When the five-year bond spikes, and remains there for a few days, one can often assume that an increase to fixed rates will follow.”
The nesto report added that in the 12 months ending February 2021, mortgage rates changed a total of 67 times, averaging 5.15 times a month.
“In February 2021, again, fixed rates were the ones moving most often, just like it was the case for most of 2020,” nesto said. “Among the changes, variable rates went down, thanks to a deeper discount on prime, while fixed rates were the ones going up.”
Refinance requests through nesto have increased in February, “absorbing a portion of our new purchase volume, which is still high, representing 55% of our users’ intent.”
nesto is expecting its refinance volume to further grow as rumblings of a potential end to the low-rate era intensify, “and consumers rush to jump in in fear of missing the boat.”
