on February 14, 2023 Fixed rates are moving up – if you’re thinking of buying in the spring, you should get pre-approved and lock in a rate hold now.
January’s inflation numbers came out for the U.S. today, and while they did show a slight decrease from December on most measures, the decrease was less than many banks and investors were hoping to see. Combined with the most recent U.S. and Canadian jobs numbers coming in stronger than expected last week, investors are worrying that the battle against inflation is going to take longer than they were hoping, and we are seeing bond yields trending up as a result.
When bond yields go up it puts pressure on mortgage funding costs, which means fixed rate mortgages will likely be going up a bit over the coming week with most lenders.
For anyone thinking about buying a new property in the next 4 months, it’s a great idea to get pre-approved and secure a rate hold now to ensure you get the best possible rate over the coming few months.
In the big picture, we still expect that fixed mortgage interest rates will be trending down over the next 2 years as the Bank of Canada’s rate hikes over the last 9 months slow the economy down. But that overall trend won’t be perfectly smooth and regular, it will have blips up and down as investors react to each new piece of news and try to predict what it means for the future.
