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Floating-rate borrowers got their Christmas bonus from the Bank of Canada on Wednesday: a half-point drop in their borrowing costs.

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That has more mortgage shoppers on the lookout for cheap variable deals. The lowest nationally advertised pricing now starts at:

• 4.25 per cent if insured, or prime minus 1.20 per cent (from Pine.ca)
• 4.75 per cent if uninsured, or prime minus 0.70 per cent (also from Pine.ca).

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The best advertised home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) have dived to 5.95 per cent, or prime plus 0.50 per cent. But if your credit’s shinier than a banker’s shoes, you can often negotiate prime plus 0.25 with big banks, or even prime (5.45 per cent).

Hybrid mortgages, where half of one’s borrowing is in a five-year fixed and half is variable, are now down to 4.76 (uninsured) and 4.51 per cent (insured). Scotiabank eHOME leads the way on that product, which suits commitment-phobes nicely.

In the fixed-rate department, this week’s Bank of Canada cuts took variable rates to within 36 basis points or less of the lowest nationally-advertised fixed offers. That’s the smallest spread between the two since November 2022. We’ll see if that’s enough to draw much interest from borrowers, given all the rate uncertainties staring at us next year.

Last but not least, if you crave an insured fixed rate in B.C., Vancity’s spectacular 3.89 per cent special is turning heads faster than a Ferrari at a minivan convention. In Alberta, ATB Financial has a below-market 3.99 per cent special, and in Ontario, online discounter Butler Mortgage leads the charge at 4.09 per cent.

Robert McLister is a mortgage strategist, interest rate analyst and editor of MortgageLogic.news. You can follow him on X at @RobMcLister.  

Mortgage rates

The rates displayed below are updated by the end of each day and are sourced from the Canadian Mortgage Rate Survey produced by MortgageLogic.news. Postmedia and Imaginative. Online Inc., parent of MortgageLogic.news, are compensated by certain mortgage providers when you click on their links in the charts.

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