First National Financial, one of Canada's largest mortgage companies issued this market summary today. "The latest interest rate announcement and policy statement from the Bank of Canada make it pretty clear there’s unlikely to be any increase this year. While the economy appeared to be making all the right moves early in the first quarter, in the end, the results didn’t meet expectations. The resurgence of the Greek problem, the growing troubles in Spain (the euro zone finance ministers agreed to lend Spain up to $125-billion (U.S.) to shore up its struggling banks),slowing in the rest of Europe, China and the U.S., and weaker than expect growth at home have the central bank backing away from hints about a hike. Nonetheless the Bank remains concerned about the risk of a housing bubble and a high level of household debt." If you are concerned about your mortgage or whether you would be able to purchase a home in the future contact me to discuss this further. David Cooke your Calgary mortgage broker

Canadians locking into low interest rate mortgages

An article in the Vancouver Province newspaper highlighted some changes going on in the Canadian mortgage market. People are slowly moving away from variable rate mortgages. At this time 29% of homeowners have variable rate mortgages but over time, they switch to fixed rates. Why? Interest rates are at all time lows, where will they be going? Up , of course. Another interesting trend is how people are taking advantage of pre-payment privileges. 23% of mortgage holders are increasing their monthly payments, and 19% of making lump sum payments. Is there an incentive behind this? Yes, every dollar that you pay down saves you $3. In interest over the term of the mortgage. Put down an extra $1000 from your Christmas bonus and save $3000. Canadians have also been bombarded by news reports about how average household debt is increasing. This is how many people are reacting. Personally I think that you should start with your high interest debts. Pay off your credit cards at 19% , follow that up with your car payments at 6-8% and then tackle your mortgage. You may wonder where you can come up with the money. Well, it's the time of year when we all get our tax refunds. Instead of spending it on sometime we don't need why not spend it on paying down debt and saving huge amounts of interest. That can be very rewarding and gratifying. Try it now and see how much more money you will have next year at this time. For more information on mortgages and credit visit visit your favourite Calgary mortgage broker