High stakes for homeowners facing choice between fixed- or variable-rate mortgage
BNN Bloomberg
Deciding between a fixed- or variable-rate mortgage has always been a challenging choice for borrowers looking to buy a home or renew a loan, but with interest rates sitting at levels not seen in decades, the stakes are especially high.
Variable-rate mortgages fell out of favour as Bank of Canada interest rate hikes sent the cost of loans linked to the big banks' prime rates soaring, but the cost of fixed-rate mortgages have also climbed from their pandemic lows.
Frank Napolitano, co-founder and mortgage agent at Mortgage Brokers Ottawa, said he's still seeing some borrowers opt for a variable rate, even noting that a recent client who was struggling with a variable-rate mortgage chose to stick with it after consolidating some other debt and extending the amortization period.
"He's decided he's going to go variable only because he believes that the rates are now probably at the peak and the payment that's been set up for him at 25 years is something that he's very comfortable with," Napolitano said.