Real Estate

Mortgage Interest Rates

  • Last Updated:
  • Jul 8th, 2019 9:08 am
Jr. Member
Aug 24, 2014
104 posts
222 upvotes
CALGARY

Mortgage Interest Rates

I am a new home buyer and wanted to get everyone's thoughts on a starting point to shop around for good interest rates and what to do

- variable vs. fixed
- what banks give the best rates, i.e. TD offered 2.79% on a 5-yr fixed
- anything else
- will any of the ohter banks beat the TD offer
8 replies
Deal Guru
User avatar
Feb 2, 2014
11231 posts
3350 upvotes
Toronto
np66666 wrote: I am a new home buyer and wanted to get everyone's thoughts on a starting point to shop around for good interest rates and what to do

- variable vs. fixed
- what banks give the best rates, i.e. TD offered 2.79% on a 5-yr fixed
- anything else
- will any of the ohter banks beat the TD offer
5-year fixed rates start at 2.49% and variable is 2.70% 5-year.

Avoid the banks...higher rates and higher IRD penalty calc.
Kevin Somnauth, CFA
Principal Broker/Owner - First Toronto Mortgage - MA (Ontario #13176, BC #X301007)
Real Estate Salesperson - Century 21 Innovative
Sr. Member
May 3, 2013
760 posts
475 upvotes
Toronto
At the end of the day, money's money, doesn't matter if it comes from a bank, a private lender, etc. So to answer your question about "good interest rate", doesn't hurt to talk to a mortgage broker to see if any lender can do better than TD.

Interest rate is only one factor, you need to see what features the mortgage has (eg. prepayment, increase payments, portability, etc.) and what fees are associated (eg. discharge fee amount, appraisal fee, etc). 5-year is a long time and a lot can happen, so you would probably want some sort of flexibility for your mortgage.
Member
User avatar
Jul 24, 2014
342 posts
132 upvotes
Toronto, ON
By all means go variable, most migrate expert I spoke to, use variable,it is always cheaper by a lot.

Fix rate give you the peace of mind though
Index Fund vs Individual Stock..."tigerdemi is a great man" tigerdemi said to himself in his dream.
Deal Addict
Sep 20, 2006
1990 posts
1047 upvotes
Winnipeg
The difference between variable and fixed rates is nominal right now so variable really isn't worth it at the moment.
Lorenzo
Deal Addict
Sep 20, 2006
1990 posts
1047 upvotes
Winnipeg
neilsmith43 wrote: Rate keeps dropping now.
yes fixed rates are dropping but the variable is not.
Lorenzo
Banned
Jun 1, 2017
513 posts
473 upvotes
lorenzo1000 wrote: yes fixed rates are dropping but the variable is not.
Because bank predicts rate will drop more so they want borrowers to use fixed.

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