The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) followed the moves yesterday by CIBC mortgages and TD mortgages, by bumping up their fixed mortgage rates today by 15 – 25 basis points (0.15% – 0.25%). These increases are in response to the run in Government of Canada bond yields, with the benchmark 5 year yield up today already by 0.845% (as of 11am on February 8, 2011) from yesterday’s close. These changes to RBC mortgage rates take effect, tomorrow, February 9, 2011.

Mortgage lenders were holding fixed mortgage rates steady despite the increase in bond yields, which increases their cost of borrowing, and therefore reduces the spread they make on lending money out to Canadian homeowners as mortgages. Historically the spreads on fixed mortgage rates have been around 1.20% but they had reduced last week to under 1% which is an abnormal situation. It was surprising fixed rates took this long to be increased as mortgage lenders were holding on, as the housing market is expected to slow down later in the year and more lenders are competing for less and less customers, so they were getting more aggressive on mortgage rates.

Again, if you will be in need of a mortgage in the next 3 or 4 months it is a good idea to get pre-approved and lock a fixed mortgage rate in now, with many mortgage lenders offering rate holds for up to 120 days on full featured mortgages, to protect yourself against any future increases.

Here is the detailed list of the changes to RBC mortgage rates:

Fixed Rates	To:	Change:	Compare rates
1-year closed	3.50%	+0.15%
2-year closed	3.75%	+0.15%
3-year closed	4.35%	+0.20%
4-year closed	5.14%	+0.20%
5-year closed	5.44%	+0.25%
7-year closed	6.60%	+0.25%
10-year closed	6.75%	+0.25%
Special Fixed Rate Offers
1-year closed Special	3.20%	+0.15%
4-year closed Special	4.34%	+0.20%
5-year closed Special	4.39%	+0.25%
7-year closed Special	5.30%	+0.25%

You can see how these latest RBC mortgage rate changes compare against the other best mortgage rates here.

RBC announced that they are increasing some of their discounted or special mortgage rate offers effective tomorrow December 15, 2010. Interestingly, the equivalent posted fixed mortgage rates are staying the same.

This is an usual move as typically the posted and discounted mortgage rates used by the banks move in tandem. You can expect the other banks to follow suit this week.

Many of the banks have been advertising more aggressive rates in the past few months as the housing market slows down and they are fighting over fewer and fewer new clients. This has lead to a larger than normal spread between posted mortgage rates and special offer rates. This latest increase by RBC reduces the spread and brings it closer to historical norms.

One of the reasons that mortgage lenders want to keep posted rates lower, is that with the new mortgage regulations, the posted 5 year fixed mortgage rate is used to qualify borrowers looking for shorter fixed term and variable mortgage rates. So the lower this rate is the more customers that can qualify for a mortgage.

Here are the latest RBC mortgage rate changes:

TD & RBC reversed their move to lower 5 year fixed mortgage rates by 0.10% last week by increasing their fixed mortgage rates by 0.15% – 0.25% today that will take effect tomorrow, November 17, 2010

This is the first mortgage rate increase in quite a while and only affects the bank’s fixed 1 – 5 year mortgage rates. Last week the banks took the market by surprise in dropping rates despite the fact government bond yields were increasing, as fixed mortgage rates move in tandem with the yields. Since October 19, the benchmark Government of Canada bond yield has increased by an astounding 28% as of yesterday’s close (but were down 3% today as of this writing). This latest rate change came about as the 5 year bond yield had risen another 13% since last week’s drop. It looks like the big lender’s push for market share does have its limits.

Here are the last fixed mortgage rate changes for RBC & TD:

RBC announced today that they’re dropping their fixed mortgage rates by 0.10%, which is effective for tomorrow August 4, 2010. This brings down their benchmark posted 5 year fixed mortgage rate to 5.59%. This rate decrease is mainly in response to the drop in the five government bond yield of almost 8% just in the past week. We expect the other major mortgage lenders to follow suit later this week.

We saw the best five year fixed mortgage rate for a quick close (ie. the deal must close within 45 days) drop to 3.89% this week as well.

Here is the full list of all the fixed rate decreases

You can check to find the lowest 5 year fixed rates in your local here.

RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) quietly lowered their fixed mortgage rates again on Friday July 2, 2010 by another 0.10%. This follows their move on June 25 to decrease their fixed rates by the same 0.10% margin. However, they did this somewhat under the radar as they didn’t issue the standard press release that usually accompanies these rate changes.

The reason that banks are now lowering their fixed mortgage rates are that their borrowing costs have plummeted in the past few weeks due to the drop in government bond yields.

The banks have been enjoying the past few weeks as their profit margins (spread) on fixed mortgages have increased as rates moved higher while their cost of funds has dropped. They are now slowly moving to drop rates again to bring the spread back in line to their ‘normal’ levels.

RBC’s variable mortgage rates remained unchanged and will do so until after the Bank of Canada’s next rate announcement on July 20.

RBC’s fixed mortgage rates are now as follows:

You can see how these new lower fixed mortgage rates compare to the rest of the mortgage market here.

The fixed mortgage rate changes are as follows:

You can see how these new lower fixed mortgage rates compare to the market.

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) followed the move by BMO and announced it is also increasing some of its mortgage rates effective, today, June 2, 2009.

The new, updated mortgage rates are as follows:

Special Offers may be changed, withdrawn or extended at any time,
without notice. Not available in combination with any other rate
discounts, offers or promotions.

The other big banks are sure to follow now, but keep in mind that it’s not all bad news, as we are now only 0.20% higher than the lowest fixed costs in history, so it is still a great time to lock in a great fixed rate.

Go compare mortgage rates now to see how RBC’s rates stack up against the rest of the market.

RBC Royal Bank has announced that they have dropped their residential mortgage rates by an average of 0.30% and the changes were effective on April 25, 2009.

The changes are as follows:

Special Offers(*)

In addition, the Royal Bank of Canada announced new mortgage rate specials as follows:

(*) The rates indicated are special discounted rates and are not the
posted rates of Royal Bank of Canada. To calculate a rate discount
compare the Special Offer rate against the posted rate for the
applicable term.

Special Offers may be changed, withdrawn or extended at any time,
without notice. Not available in combination with any other rate
discounts, offers or promotions.

You can compare RBC mortgage rates against the market now.

RBC’s CEO Gordon Nixon announced on Friday that mortgage rates “can go lower, but they can’t go much lower.”

Although that’s great news for mortgage shoppers it’s not great for RBC’s shareholders as Nixon also soad that the widely expected rate cut by the Bank of Canada tomorrow would hurt RBC’s mortgage earnings. “What it does is squeeze our margins dramatically, particularly in our retail and mortgage portfolios,” he said.

Analysts are predicting a 0.25% to 0.50% to Canada’s main interest rate tomorrow and the big banks should follow the rate cute and decrease their Prime lending rates which will then lower variable mortgage rates.

Rates are currently at or near historic lows anyways so it will be a great time to take advantage if you’re in the market for a mortgage.

The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) also increased mortgage rates on September 26th and effective September 27th 2008. They increased most of their fixed rates by 0.35% including the popular 5 year fixed closed mortgage rate.

The details were as follows:

Special Offers(*)

(*) The rates indicated are special discounted rates and are not the posted
rates of Royal Bank of Canada. To calculate a rate discount compare the
Special Offer rate against the posted rate for the applicable term.

Special Offers may be changed, withdrawn or extended at any time, without
notice. Not available in combination with any other rate discounts, offers or
promotions.