Mortgage wars: What you need to know about the current mortgage climate

Photo credit: Gobankingrates.com (www.gobankingrates.com/mortgage-rates/)

What’s the story with lenders recently pushing the envelope on mortgage rates?

Today, the Globe and Mail’s real estate reporter, Tara Perkins provided an analysis of current lower mortgage rates in her article titled, “Mortgage battle escalates as Scotiabank offers 2.97% five-year rate.”

According to Perkins, the news of the day is that Bank of Nova Scotia is the latest lender to push the envelope on mortgage rates offering a five-year fixed rate of 2.97 per cent. This is the lowest five-year fixed rate among the big banks, and comes in slightly below the 2.99 per cent rate that Bank of Montreal has sparked controversy with in recent years.

David Stafford, Scotiabank’s managing director of real estate secured lending made a crucial point that Canadians need to keep at the forefront of their mind when shopping for mortgages. “Consumers view rate as a proxy for a cost. But the actual cost of the mortgage is the dollars that you spend in interest. There are three things that drive that: how much you borrow, at what rate, for how long. And the most expensive part of the mortgage right now is time, not the rate,” he notes.

For more, read the full Globe and Mail article here: Globe and Mail article