The price lenders pay to finance mortgages has been largely stagnant for a month and a half. This stagnation explains why mortgage rates announced across the country this week delivered next to nothing.
Behind the scenes, however, some major banks cut discretionary interest rates by about five basis points. These are off-menu rates reserved for borrowers who make a strong application and are willing to haggle.
For those looking for transparency and less gambling, there are many leading lenders who will show all their cards. Including:
- Pine’s five-year uninsured interest rate is 4.09 percent
- Ratebuzz’s uninsured five-year fixed rate of 3.95 percent (Ontario only)
- Vancity’s four-year uninsured term is 3.94 percent (BC only)
- Butler Mortgage’s three-year insured term is 3.59 percent (Alberta, BC, Ontario only)
Elsewhere in the mortgage universe…
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) announced Thursday that it will maintain its mortgage stress test. That’s the rule that forces uninsured borrowers at federally regulated lenders to prove they can afford interest rates that are more than 200 basis points higher than their actual interest rate.
In 2025, Superintendent Peter Routledge indicated that OSFI might replace the stress test with its new loan-to-income limit, which applies to a lender’s overall portfolio rather than individual mortgages. Industry insiders hoped this would be the case.
Instead, the regulator decided to apply both rules for now. This means that banks will be a little more selective in who they choose
they borrow.
The takeaway from the cost of borrowing is that the harder it is for someone to qualify for a mortgage, the higher the interest rate they typically pay.
Robert McLister is a mortgage strategist, interest rate analyst and editor of MortgageLogic.news. You can follow him on X at @RobMcLister.
Do you want to save on your mortgage?
For the best national mortgage rates for both insured and uninsured mortgages, updated daily, visit our mortgage rates page
Here
.