HSBC is once again setting the pace for uninsured five-year fixed rates. Its new 5.09-per-cent offer leads all national lenders. Plus it’s forking out up to $5,000 cash back, depending on mortgage size.
If you’re dead-set on a five-year fixed and there’s a meaningful chance you’ll break the mortgage early, find a lender with lower prepayment penalties than a bank. Mortgage brokers know who these lenders are.In the one-year fixed market, note the dramatic savings for insured one-year rates versus uninsured rates. That’s largely thanks to much lower funding costs for government-backed insured mortgages where borrowers pay the default insurance premium.
QuestMortgage’s 4.64-per-cent insured one-year fixed remains one of the nation’s best values, especially since it includes legal and appraisal costs on standard mortgage switches from other lenders.. The latter includes good one-year rates from credit unions.in what is expected to be its last rate hike of this cycle. If prime jumps another 25 basis points to 6.7 per cent, and that’s it, borrowers can consider themselves lucky.
What does that preparation entail? It means asking your lender how high your payment could go if rates jump another 50 to 100 bps, then confirming you have access to enough cash – via savings, borrowing or selling something – to cover the payment increase.