Commentary

• ING CEO, Peter Aceto, is surprised so many mortgage shoppers haggle with their banks.  “If you are buying something in a flea market, that’s one thing,” he says. “Why some people can go in to a branch and negotiate 25 basis points off and why someone else can negotiate 100 basis points off – just based on their negotiation skills, on their relationship – to me, it just doesn’t seem like a fair way to do business.”
• “This is not a time to buy, but to rent. There is absolutely no advantage to buying…when you can live in the same unit for thousands less as year as a renter, and have these wretched losers subsidize you.” — MP Garth Turner  (Ha. So much for politicians being politically correct!)

Interest Rates

• “The consensus is rates are going to be back up,” says Warren Jestin, chief economist at Scotiabank.
• TD predicts no Bank of Canada rate hikes until late 2009.  But TD ‘s Craig Alexander does acknowledge fixed rates could jump 1/2% over the next few months.
• “In our view, we’re probably going to see in the next couple of months more concern about inflation, more of a back-up in interest rates, although by the end of the year they’re going to come back down again.” — Warren Jestin, chief economist at Scotiabank.
• “Basically the bond market is swinging wildly between a possible U. S. recession and global inflation,” notes Bank of Montreal economist Doug Porter.
• The Glob & Mail writes that:  “BMO’s Doug Porter says the recent surge in interest rates may have gone a bit too far…Don’t be in a rush to make a [fixed-rate] commitment.”  (Gutsy advice.)

Mortgage Stats

• Almost 6 in 10 Canadian homes have a mortgage.  The percentage of Canadians with mortgages is at the highest level since 1981. Vancouver Sun 1 Vancouver Sun 2
• The delinquency rate on subprime Canadian mortgages is 1.5% says the Globe & Mail.

Last modified: April 25, 2014