Canada's fixed rates have seen their first increases since the pandemic took hold, Ratehub.ca says
Attesting to the product’s increasing desirability in the current climate, variable-rate requests made to online platform Ratehub.ca increased by over 40% from 2019 to 2020 and saw a further increase of nearly 50% annually from 2020 to 2021.
By comparison, fixed-rate requests represented more than 68% of total rate requests in 2021, a level 14% lower than 2020 and 31% lower than 2019.
“One of the most striking developments since the beginning of 2020 has been the increase in popularity of variable-rate mortgages and last year was no exception,” Ratehub said. “Fixed rates climbed for the first time since the onset of the pandemic and continue to rise – and with this, variable-rate mortgages became increasingly popular.”
Read more: Variable-rate mortgages amid the new BoC rate-hike regime
On the other hand, HELOC requests increased by 55% annually in 2021, accounting for slightly more than 14% of total requests in Ratehub.
“High home prices and low rates have encouraged more Canadians to leverage the equity in their homes,” Ratehub said.
“Unsurprisingly, given the nature of the housing market, a majority of Canadians across the nation believe that home prices will continue to rise in 2022,” the platform added. “Almost two-thirds of Canadians believe that housing prices will rise in 2022.”
