Money123: Wait, mortgage rates are going down?

A good time to shop around for mortgage rates

After years of rising mortgage rates tied to the Bank of Canada’s policy tightening cycle, homeowners and prospective buyers might be surprised to learn some rates on offer in the market today are on the decline.

Five-year fixed rates on insurable mortgages are as low as 4.84 per cent this week, according to Ratehub, marking a decline of more than a percentage point since highs seen this past fall.

Ratehub’s co-CEO James Laird says this is tied to easing in the bond market since that time, as forecasters shift their mindsets from rates staying “higher for longer” to seeing cuts from the central bank on the horizon.

But there’s no guarantee the trend of lower mortgage rates will continue, experts who spoke to Global News warn. Signs of a stall in the Bank of Canada’s inflation fight, for instance, could push back the timetable for rate cuts and push fixed rates back up in the months ahead.

Laird says that makes now a good time to secure a rate hold from a mortgage professional, for both homeowners gearing up for a renewal and prospective buyers eyeing the spring housing market.

Read on for more of what you need to know to secure the most competitive mortgage rate in today’s market.

U.S. Bitcoin ETFs just made crypto ‘more mainstream’

For anyone who is curious about cryptocurrencies but not keen on opening up the digital wallets needed to own bitcoin and its ilk, a landmark ruling from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this week just opened up the market to a whole new kind of investor.

Eleven Bitcoin exchange-traded funds were approved in the U.S. this week, allowing investors to get exposure to the popular cryptocurrency without owning the asset.

Bitcoin ETFs were already approved in Canada, but experts say the move south of the border will make bitcoin and the wider crypto market “more mainstream.”

“I think that this is going to be a major watershed event for the asset class and … there’s going to be wide interest from many different kinds of investors for this product,” Alex Tapscott, managing partner at Ninepoint Partners digital asset group, said in an interview with Global News.

The wider adoption of cryptocurrency in traditional investing products comes as the price of bitcoin is up more than 150 per cent over the past year, coming off a turbulent downturn in 2022.

Read on to find out what experts are advising for Canadians getting more curious about crypto.

Should you avoid flying Boeing?

A bad week for Boeing’s 737 MAX 9s is the latest incident in what experts say is a “checkered history” for the line of jets.

A mid-air door panel blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight last week forced the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to ground the MAX 9s across the country until an inspection of all aircraft can be completed.

It’s not the first time the Boeing line has been grounded, with the MAX 8s banned from flying in many jurisdictions for 20 months after fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019.

Henry Harteveldt, travel industry analyst at Atmosphere Research Group, says it’s understandable if air passengers are feeling uneasy boarding a Boeing right now.

“There are a lot of people who are afraid of Boeing aircraft at this time, and you don’t really have much of a choice as a traveller,” he says.

Experts who spoke to Global News this week say it’s technically possible to plan an itinerary that avoids Boeing planes, but that doing so will limit your flight options in a market dominated by just two players.

Read on to find out what travellers should know about flying in the wake of Boeing’s latest incident.

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– THE QUESTION –

“Our mortgage is due for renewal in June 2024. Our employment income has changed dramatically since we first got the mortgage, and we know the interest rates have gone up. Should we be concerned about not qualifying for renewal? I’ve been looking for a higher-paying job than the one I’ve had for 18 months, but is employment stability more important than earnings?”

— A Money123 reader 

“If you’ve been paying as agreed the whole time, you’ll be offered a renewal. In this case, you don’t need to re-qualify for your mortgage if you stay with that lender. The challenge occurs when you get a lousy renewal offer and you can’t qualify for a better mortgage elsewhere. In that case, you could be stuck eating what your lender force-feeds you. But you can always try to negotiate anyhow and tell the lender that you got a better offer elsewhere and you want them to match it. You’ll need to provide basic details of that quote, but you don’t have to disclose if you qualify for it or not.

Just keep in mind that your existing lender will likely have information on your credit (via a soft credit pull) and property value (via an automated valuation). They might even be able to tell how your income has changed. Hence, if your personal finances have taken a dive, you might find your renewal offer not so palatable. As for employment, if you have a new salaried job that’s foreseeably stable and you’re past probation, you shouldn’t need a lengthy track record of employment.”

–  Rob McLister, mortgage strategist, MortgageLogic.news (MLN)

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