Bank of Montreal is bringing back its controversial 2.99 per cent five-year fixed-rate mortgages.
BMO sparked a mortgage price war among the banks early last year when it first introduced the rate, one that angered Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who has been worrying that Canadians are taking on too much mortgage debt. The bank stopped offering the rate later in 2012.
Read more: http://tinyurl.com/d75348v
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages moved closer to historic lows this week, a trend that has helped drive a rebound in home sales.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage declined to 3.51% from 3.56% last week. That’s near the 3.31% rate reached in November, the lowest on records dating to 1971.
Read more: http://tinyurl.com/bpe3cdd
Red Deer and Vancouver have vastly different climates, topographies — and real estate markets.
This third difference has been illustrated by the recent slide in residential sales activity in the West Coast city, a trend not duplicated in Red Deer.
Yet big urban centres like Vancouver are often lumped together with other cities to produce national statistics, said Ken Devoe, president of the Central Alberta Realtor’s Association.
Read more: http://tinyurl.com/ckwbw3l
Strathcona County council endorsed a recommendation at its Oct. 23 meeting that administration analyze different classified pricing objectives for water rate design in the municipality, as part of a cost of service study.
The pricing objectives classified financial sufficiency, equity and rate stability as very important; revenue stability, conservation and affordability as important; and new customer contributions, customer impacts, simple to understand, economic development and ease of implementation as less important.
Read more: http://tinyurl.com/cpfkjqo