Rates on some fixed mortgages have dropped by a full percentage point in the past few months, opening up an opportunity for Canadians eyeing the spring housing market or with a mortgage of their own up for renewal.
While experts say there’s little downside to securing a cheaper rate today, committing to a long-term mortgage with rate cuts in the forecast might end up costing some households more.
Before the end of 2023, the lowest rate available on insurable five-year fixed rate mortgages dropped below five per cent, the first time it fell below that benchmark since last spring.
As of Thursday, rates as low as 4.84 per cent were available for that same product at multiple Canadian lenders, according to James Laird, co-CEO of Ratehub.ca.
That’s down more than a percentage point from highs seen last fall, Laird tells Global News.
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As the Canadian economy has weakened and inflation has shown signs of cooling, forecasters are shifting their expectations for the Bank of Canada’s policy rate from “higher for longer” to now thinking “rate cuts are coming sooner rather than later,” Laird says.
That’s driven down yields on products like the government of Canada’s five-year bond in recent months — the key benchmark for fixed-rate mortgages of the same length.
The popular five-year fixed product is not the only mortgage seeing cheaper rates to start the new year. Mortgage Outlet COO and broker Leah Zlatkin notes that three-year fixed mortgages are also down from recent highs, floating just above the five-per cent market.
“It is a really good time to get a lower (fixed) interest rate than you would’ve been getting for the last year,” she tells Global News.
Falling rates spurs ‘deja vu’ from 2023
But Zlatkin also warns that there are risks out there that could “quell” the easing in the bond market.
Because yields — and by extension, fixed mortgage rates — are tied to expectations for the Bank of Canada’s policy rate, anything that pushes back forecasts for eventual rate cuts could send fixed rates in the market back up.
Inflation could stay elevated, for example, keeping the central bank from easing rates. Such a move would limit activity in the housing market as fewer people qualify for rates they can afford, Zlatkin says.
Laird says the easing in the bond market today is “almost deja vu” from last year, when the Bank of Canada announced a “conditional pause” in its rate hike cycle.
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At that time, market watchers began to speculate that rate cuts were on the horizon, bringing down yields and fuelling a spring thaw in the cooling housing market. But those hopes were cut short in June and July when the Bank of Canada returned with back-to-back rate hikes, and the bond market saw yields surge soon after on the “higher for longer” mentality.
Laird warns that any number of global events or inflation snags not yet in the forecasts could affect the Bank of Canada’s timeline for rate cuts.
For that reason, there’s “never a downside” for Canadians who are thinking about getting a mortgage for the first time, or who have one coming up for renewal in the months ahead, to get a rate hold now when the market is easing.
By inquiring with a mortgage professional, you can secure a rate at today’s prices, typically for 120 days in advance of when you need it. If bond yields continue to ease and rates drop further, you can take advantage of the new rates right up until you sign for the new mortgage; if the trend reverses and rates rise, you’re similarly protected, Laird notes.
The 4.84 per cent rate available on most comparator sites is open largely to homeowners or buyers with an insurable mortgage, Laird says, where lenders can afford to offer the most competitive rates.
Zlatkin says that for those with mortgages up for renewal in the first half of 2024, now is the time to get documents in order and reach out to a broker or other professional to kick off the renewal process.
An existing lender is likely to offer a competitive five-year fixed rate at renewal, but will be more inclined to negotiate a lower rate if you’re working with a broker to put another offer on the table, she says.
There’s another option for mortgage consumers to consider, Zlatkin notes. Variable-rate mortgages are currently more expensive than most fixed-rate options, as they’re tied to lenders’ prime rate, which itself is informed by movements in the Bank of Canada’s policy rate.
Currently, five-year variable rate options are priced around 6.2-6.7 per cent, Zlatkin says. But if forecasts are to be trusted that the central bank rate is going to decline, those with a variable mortgage could see their rate drop in concert with those cuts.
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Depending on the type of payments involved in their mortgage, a household could see their payments start higher but drop as the rate cycle eases if they were to take out a variable rate.
There are plenty of risks that come with this approach — as happened last year, rates could still rise rather than decline in the year to come — but Zlatkin notes that if rate cuts do materialize, a variable rate holder could pay less than someone with a fixed rate over the same timeframe.
“Consumers in the marketplace should start pricing that into their considerations,” she says.
Laird says that based on activity on Ratehub’s mortgage pricing and leads tools, there seems to be “early” interest among buyers ahead of the traditionally busy spring housing market.
Coming off of a very cool winter season, which saw few active buyers and some would-be sellers forced to shelve their plans for the new year, Laird predicts the housing market is due for a “strong start to the year.”
“There should be a lot of pent-up demand, just because there weren’t a lot of transactions last year,” he says.
It has been a difficult start to the NFL season for quarterback Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers.
Carolina has dropped its opening two games after Sunday’s 26-3 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. And Young, the first player taken in the ’23 NFL draft, was 18-of-26 passing for 84 yards with an interception while being sacked twice.
As a result, veteran Andy Dalton will start Sunday when Carolina faces the Las Vegas Raiders (1-1).
According to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., the Chargers’ win was the most accurately predicted moneyline selection by Proline bettors. A whopping 92 per cent of wagers were on Los Angeles beating Carolina with 92 per cent also picking the Chargers to cover -4.5.
In other action that went in favour of Proline bettors: Kansas City edged Cincinnati 26-25 (86 per cent correctly selected the Chiefs to win); Houston got past Chicago 19-13 (81 per cent); the New York Jets defeated Tennessee 24-17 (78 per cent); Pittsburgh beat Denver 13-6 (76 per cent), Washington beat the New York Giants 21-18 (73 per cent); and Seattle toppled New England 23-20 (62 per cent).
However, only five per cent of bettors had the Raiders upsetting Baltimore 26-23.
And there was one winner of Proline’s second week main NFL pool of $407,613.
In NFL futures bets after the second week of the season, the odds for offensive player of the year got shorter for running backs Breece Hall (Jets) and Bijan Robinson (Atlanta) and Detroit receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. But they got longer for running backs Kyren Williams (Rams), Christian McCaffrey (San Francisco) and Jonathan Taylor (Colts).
Quarterbacks Bo Nix (Denver), Jayden Daniels (Washington) and Caleb Williams (Chicago) all had their odds for offensive rookie of the year go up while they went down for running back Ray Davis (Buffalo), tight end Brock Bowers (Raiders) and receiver Malik Nabers (Giants).
Quarterbacks Patrick Mahones (Chiefs), Aaron Rodgers (Jets) and Jalen Hurts (Eagles) all had their odds for regular season MVP go up. But quarterbacks Jordan Love (Packers), Lamar Jackson (Baltimore) and Joe Burrow (Cincinnati) all saw theirs go down.
Kansas City, Philadelphia and Houston had their Super Bowl odds increase while Green Bay, Baltimore and Cincinnati all decreased.
Not surprising, the week’s top events were all NFL games. In order, they were; Buffalo-Miami, Chicago-Houston, Cincinnati-KC, Raiders-Ravens; and Saints-Cowboys.
A Proline retail player cashed in a $26,183 winner from a $10 bet on a 12-leg major-league baseball parlay. Another won $24,602 from a $10 wager on a 12-leg NFL parlay.
A third received $1,737 from a $3 bet on a six-leg NFL parlay.
A digital bettor earned $2,927 from a $25 bet on a five-leg NFL parlay while a second had a $704.35 return from a $1 wager on a seven-leg NFL parlay.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. (AP) — Lions coach Dan Campbell is selling his suburban Detroit home to get more privacy.
“There’s plenty of space, it’s on two acres, the home is beautiful,” Campbell told Crain’s Detroit Business. “It’s just that people figured out where we lived when we lost.”
He didn’t elaborate.
Campbell and wife Holly listed the 7,800-square-foot house in Bloomfield Hills for $4.5 million this week. A deal was pending within 24 hours, Crain’s reported.
Campbell was hired by the Lions in 2021. After a 3-13-1 record that season, the team has become one of the best in the NFL, reaching the NFC championship game last January.
Campbell’s home was built in 2013 for Igor Larionov, a Hockey Hall of Fame member who played for the Detroit Red Wings.
The likely buyers are “huge” Lions fans, said Ashley Crain, who is representing Campbell and the buyers in the sale.
Ariella Kimmel and Mandi Johnson were grabbing a bite to eat in Vienna, when their August trip to the Austrian capital was upended.
The Canadian duo had travelled to the city to see Taylor Swift in concert only to learn her shows would be cancelled because of two men plotting to launch an attack on fans outside the venue, Ernst Happel Stadium.
While Kimmel and Johnson were disappointed they weren’t going to be able to see Swift perform, they made the most of the remainder of their trip. However, the experience serves as a buyer’s beware for Canadians considering jet setting to see their favourite artists or teams.
“If you’re travelling to these concerts, it’s really hard to protect yourself,” said Kimmel, a Toronto-based vice-president at a public affairs firm who had previously travelled with Johnson to see Swift in Las Vegas, Nashville and Stockholm.
Such trips can make lifelong memories when they go off without a hitch, but cancellations and rescheduled events are common because of artist illnesses, poor ticket sales, security threats, unruly weather and natural disasters.
In the last year alone, Jennifer Lopez and the Black Keys scuttled touring plans after tickets had been sold, while Bruce Springsteen, Usher and Pink had to tell fans they couldn’t take the stage mere hoursbefore show time.
Between airfares, hotels, travel expenses and tickets, last-minute cancellations can leave globe-trotting eventgoers out hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.
“Regrettably, unpredictability has always been a reality of the industry but it’s increasingly common that there might be things that are going to interrupt your plans, especially plans that you’re really excited about,” said Jenny Kost, the Calgary-based global director of strategic sales initiatives at Corporate Traveller Canada.
“It’s a tricky one because the airline or hotel understands the reason behind your travel but its likelihood of happening or not happening is a little bit outside of their purview.”
Because Swift is known to power through shows even when sick, Kimmel never imagined a concert she was headed to would ever be cancelled, but she always booked plane tickets and hotels that could be rescheduled or refunded — a move she recommends to others travelling for events.
“It’s like common sense, you never know what’s going to happen,” Kimmel said.
However, making use of the rescheduling and refund options her hotel booking and airline tickets had weren’t an option for Kimmel this time because she had already been in Austria for a few days and had very little of her stay left when Swift cancelled.
Had the show been nixed before Kimmel left home, the flexibility baked into the bookings would have been useful, though Kost said such arrangements aren’t cheap.
“There is a cost associated with that that’s not insignificant,” she warned, estimating these kinds of bookings can add hundreds of dollars to your bill and have lots of quirks in the fine print.
The better bet is travel insurance, Kost said. It’s often cheaper than flexible fares and hotel bookings and can reimburse customers for accommodations and flights they have to drop or swap when an event gets cancel or an emergency strikes.
Kost opted for such insurance when she journeyed to Paris to see Swift over the summer and bought it again in a cab on her way to Mexico for a wedding. The insurance cost her about $150 for a week, but when she had to extend her stay because she fell ill, it covered the cost of all of her accommodations.
She doesn’t encourage people to wait until the last minute to buy the insurance like she did because buying it early can provide some reprieve when an event you’re travelling to is cancelled well in advance.
Travel costs aside, people heading out-of-town for events that wind up cancelled also have to consider whether they will get the money they spent on entry fees and tickets back.
In Kimmel and Johnson’s case, they paid Ticketmaster about $300 per seat. They learned just after the cancellation that they would be refunded — but not for an $85 transaction fee they were charged when purchasing the tickets.
“We paid $85 to not see her but I guess that in the grand scheme of what we were going to pay, it’s not a lot at all,” Kimmel said.
They did not opt to buy insurance on their tickets, which Ticketmaster offers through Allianz Global Assistance for $8, plus tax. Allianz’s vice-president of marketing and insights Dan Keon said the insurance offers coverage up to $1,000 per ticket.
In addition to offering refunds if an event is cancelled by a venue or promoter, the coverage can provide a reimbursement for a variety of situations. Those include if you are facing a serious medical issue or death, have a family member in life-threatening condition, are summoned by the military or are delayed in arriving at the venue because of a common transportation carrier.
If you’re going to opt into the insurance, Keon said review the terms ahead of time, so you understand exactly what scenarios you will be covered in.
The insurance, for example, can’t be used in the event of a pandemic, war or natural disaster.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
