1. Mortgage amortization periods will be reduced from 35 years to 30 years.
2. The maximum amount Canadians can borrow to refinance their mortgages will be lowered from 90 per cent to 85 per cent of the value of their homes.
3. The government will withdraw its insurance backing on lines of credit secured on homes, such as home equity lines of credit. (Effective April 18^th, 2011)

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Mortgage lenders increased fixed mortgage rates by roughly .20% this week.  This was expected with the Bond yields moving up last week.  Over the past year fixed mortgage rates have fluctuated up and down by roughly .80% from 3.79% to 4.59% but overall remained flat i.e. the trend has not changed.  The question that everyone is asking now, is the trend finally breaking into a upward trend in both fixed and the variable lending rate.  This remains to be seen.  Just as we think the trend is breaking and moving up we get a bad piece of economic news which corrects the trend.
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On this cold and snowy day please stay warm and drive safe.

When your mortgage is up for renewal you do have options.  Believe it or not nearly 70% of Canadians sign their mortgage renewal letter without actually considering other options for a better rate or product.  When you receive a renewal letter from your lender the lender (mainly banks) will not offer you the best discount rate.   They are hoping (and in most cases are correct) that the client will just sign the letter and send back to the lender.  The lenders (mainly banks) save allot of money by taken this approach.
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