Linda Linfoot - Mortgage Professional

07/31/2024

Effective August 1st, 2024, First Time Homebuyers purchasing New Construction properties are able to qualify on a 30 year amortization! This Insured offering is an exciting opportunity for First Time Homebuyers looking to alleviate the pressures of affordability.

A First Time Homebuyer is defined by meeting one of the following criteria:
The borrower has never purchased a home before; OR
In the last 4 years, the borrower has not occupied a home as a principal place of residence that either they themselves or their current spouse or common-law partner owned; OR
The borrower recently experienced the breakdown of a marriage or common-law partnership.
For additional information, please see contact me anytime.

06/07/2024

BOC Rate Annoucement - The Bank of Canada decreased the Prime Lending Rate by .25 bps.
This now makes the prime lending rate 6.95% - most Lenders have made the adjustment already.

Those with a variable rate mortgage or have a home equity line of credit will be affected by this decrease.

If you’d like to discuss the different ways on how to pay down your mortgage faster, contact me anytime!!

03/06/2024

PRIME LENDING RATE REMAINS AT 7.20% - ANNOUNCED THIS MORNING

Bank of Canada Holds Overnight Rate at 5%
The Bank of Canada maintained its overnight rate at 5 per cent, continuing its quantitative tightening policy. Expressing concern about risks to the inflation outlook, particularly persistent underlying inflation, the Bank remained committed to allowing the current restrictive policy to continue to ease underlying inflationary pressures.

In Canada, the economy expanded by 1 per cent in the fourth quarter after contracting 0.5 per cent in the third quarter. Despite this, the pace of growth remained weak and below potential, with domestic demand contracting with a large decline in business investment. Employment growth continues to lag behind population growth, and signs of easing wage pressures have emerged. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation eased to 2.9 per cent in January, with shelter price inflation remaining elevated.

The announcement noted a slowdown in the global economy during the fourth quarter, accompanied by a decrease in inflation both in the United States and Europe. Additionally, bond yields increased while corporate credit spreads narrowed.

The Bank of Canada's decision reflects a cautious approach. Looking ahead, most analysts anticipate cuts to the policy interest rate starting in June as a precautionary measure to prevent a further slowdown in the economy.

The next scheduled date for announcing the overnight rate target is April 10, 2024. The Bank will publish its next full outlook for the economy and inflation, including risks to the projection, in the Monetary Policy Report at the same time.

03/06/2024

The new First Time Home Buyer Savings Account (FHSA) is available in Canada. This is a great opportunity for current renters and young adults that have never owned a home to start contributing and saving tax free for their down payment.

The First Home Savings Account (FHSA) is giving first time home buyers the benefit of an RRSP and TFSA combined to help save for their first home.

Here are some of the benefits:

Contributions are tax deductible
Withdrawal to purchase a home is non-taxable
Growth is tax free
Max. $40,000 contribution room
Max. $8000 contribution per year, beginning 2023, including carry forward amount (excess charged 1% penalty each month)
Ex. $5000 contributed in 2023, max. allowed in 2024 would be $11,000 ($8000 plus $3000 carry forward)
Like the TFSA, carry forwards only accumulate once the FHSA is opened.
Must be min. 18 years old, max. 71 years old and Canadian resident
Must not have owned a home in which they lived at during any part of the calendar year or any time in the previous 4 years.
Can make the withdrawal within 30 days of moving in
Can not use funds with a partner that is not a first time home buyer
15 years to grow and use funds for buying a first home
Can hold multiple FHSA, total cannot exceed $40,000.

What Happens if you don’t use your FHSA?

Withdraw your funds and pay tax at your applicable tax rate, or transfer to your RRSP or RRIF tax free and pay tax on withdrawal at retirement income tax rate
Transferred funds do not reinstated the contribution room of the FHSA
Transferred funds into an RRSP do not reduce contribution room, nor are they limited by their available contribution room.

Can you carry forward Undeducted Contributions?

Yes, like an RRSP, you can carry forward indefinitely and deduct contributions in later tax years.

Call me today to discuss this further!

03/08/2023

Bank of Canada has maintained the overnight policy rate at 4.5%

Prime Rate remains at 6.70%

The Bank of Canada has kept its target for the overnight rate unchanged and will continue with quantitative tightening measures while it assesses the economic impact of past interest rate hikes.

In a statement released this morning, the Bank noted that inflation eased to 5.9% in January, mainly due to lower price increases in energy, products and services. It has also noted that increases for food and shelter remain high, which translate into continued hardship for Canadians. The Bank is counting on inflation to ease further as it expects weak economic growth for the next two quarters.

The Bank is prepared to resume policy rate increases to return inflation to the 2% target. The Bank is set to next evaluate the overnight rate target on April 12, 2023.

02/17/2023

The First Home Savings Account (FHSA) is coming as early as April 1, 2023 in Canada, giving first time home buyers the benefit of an RRSP and TFSA combined to help save for their first home.

Here are some of the benefits:

Contributions are tax deductible
Withdrawal to purchase a home is non-taxable
Growth is tax free
Max. $40,000 contribution room
Max. $8000 contribution per year, beginning 2023, including carry forward amount (excess charged 1% penalty each month)
Ex. $5000 contributed in 2023, max. allowed in 2024 would be $11,000 ($8000 plus $3000 carry forward)
Like the TFSA, carry forwards only accumulate once the FHSA is opened.
Must be min. 18 years old, max. 71 years old and Canadian resident
Must not have owned a home in which they lived at during any part of the calendar year or any time in the previous 4 years.
Can make the withdrawal within 30 days of moving in
Can not use funds with a partner that is not a first time home buyer
15 years to grow and use funds for buying a first home
Can hold multiple FHSA, total cannot exceed $40,000.

What Happens if you don’t use your FHSA?

Withdraw your funds and pay tax at your applicable tax rate, or transfer to your RRSP or RRIF tax free and pay tax on withdrawal at retirement income tax rate
Transferred funds do not reinstated the contribution room of the FHSA
Transferred funds into an RRSP do not reduce contribution room, nor are they limited by their available contribution room.

Can you carry forward Undeducted Contributions?

Yes, like an RRSP, you can carry forward indefinitely and deduct contributions in later tax years.

09/03/2022

There is a ton of conversation about how variable rates will be affected with the Bank of Canada’s prime rate increases.

Unlike variable rates, fixed rates are not directly affected by the BOC’s rate changes. Instead, they are informed mostly (but indirectly) by the 5-year government bond yield.

So what is the bond yield? In simple terms, a bond is secure investment which essentially Canadians lending money to the government and interest is paid back – this interest is the “yield”. As the price of the bond decreases, the yield increases and as the yield increases, so do fixed rates.

Typically to set fixed rates, lenders add 1-2% to the 5-year yield. This difference is called the “rate spread.”

Currently the 5-year bond yield is projected to be around 3.7% at the end of 2022, which would put fixed rates around 5.2% but of course, time and the trajectory of inflation, market trends and the economy will tell!

Contact me anytime if you would like to discuss your mortgage .

03/02/2022

Bank of Canada raises prime lending rate. Prime rate is now 2.70%
Article found here -
 https://www.canadianmortgagetrends.com/2022/03/bank-of-canada-kicks-off-rate-hike-cycle-raises-rates-by-25-bps/?fbclid=IwAR15Qh57X6buSlQ4B5xboJPJvdG2fj7oqEER8d

Two years after drastically cutting Canadian interest rates at the start of the pandemic, the Bank of Canada has kicked off a new rate-hike cycle.

03/16/2020

Released today - If you are on the fence about purchasing, now is the time to at least place your rate hold!

Why Rates are Raising https://www.canadianmortgagetrends.com/2020/03/mortgage-rates-rising/ Advice for Mortgage Shoppers -For those in the market for a new mortgage, and who are leaning towards a variable rate, experts recommend obtaining a rate hold as soon as possible. “I would say act sooner r...

03/14/2020

Stress Test Changes Being Suspended Last month’s announced change to Canada’s insured mortgage stress test—which was to take effect April 6—has now been put on hold. The federal government had planned to change the formula for the benchmark qualifying rate, which would have reduced the stres...

04/18/2019

Anyone who has been watching knows that bond yields are falling and taking fixed rate mortgages with them. The recent economic slowdown in both Canada and the U.S. has pushed down yields on five year government bonds on both sides of the border. Those yields are used as the basis for setting interes...