TORONTO, July 26, 2024 /CNW/ - Mortgage rates in Canada are close to their highest point in the past two decades, while home prices are significantly higher than 20 years ago. This combination of high prices and high rates translates to significant financial difficulty for mortgage holders, especially the ones who bought in the last decade. As of July 26, 2024, the lowest available rate without any unusual conditions is 4.39%. This rate is 45 basis points (0.45%) lower than the lowest advertised rates of the Big Six Banks in Canada, translating to $2,250 in annual interest savings on a $500,000 mortgage. Saving $2,250 on interest payments is crucial, especially after the significant increase in living costs for Canadians over the past few years.

According to the latest report from Canada's seven largest lenders (Big Six Banks and Desjardins), the rate of monthly mortgage renewals is expected to increase steadily, rising from 1.3% of all mortgages to nearly 2% by mid-2025. This means around 19% of mortgages will be renewed in the next 12 months, and all these mortgage holders will need to renew at higher rates.

The question arises: How can you find the best rates in Canada without spending hours? The answer lies in rate comparison websites like WOWA.ca. In Canada, there are a few major rate comparison platforms where you can check rates from different lenders: WOWA.ca, Ratehub.ca, Nerdwallet.com/ca/, and Money.ca. It's important to understand the differences between these mortgage rate platforms. Here, we compare their rates as of July 26, 2024, for Ontario for these platforms:

As you can see in the table, WOWA offers the best rates in all popular scenarios.

How WOWA Aggregates the Lowest Mortgage Rates in Canada

Quantity of Partners: WOWA does not have its own brokerage, nor does it work exclusively with a single or couple of brokerages. Instead, it collaborates with several lenders and brokerages to always offer the best rates. For example, as of July 26, 2024, WOWA's partners—Butler Mortgage, 6ix Mortgage Group, Citadel Mortgage, and Nesto—offer a 5-year fixed insured rate of either 4.39% or 4.44% which are the lowest in Canada on the major comparison websites. At the same time, the 5-year fixed uninsurable/refinance rate of 4.84% is offered only on WOWA, while the lowest rate on other major platforms is 4.99%.

Quality of Partners: WOWA's partners include experienced brokerages, reputable fintech mortgage companies and established lenders. By working with Nesto, the largest mortgage fintech company in Canada, WOWA can offer some of the best rates in all provinces, including Quebec. WOWA ensures it offers the best rates in Canada by partnering with experienced brokerages like Butler Mortgage, 6ix Mortgage Group, and Citadel Mortgage, which are willing to buy down rates by cutting their commissions by up to 80%. These brokerages can achieve this by handling high mortgage lead volumes. Meanwhile, WOWA also works directly with some of the Big Six Banks, such as BMO, receiving special rates lower than those advertised on BMO's own platform.

Is Getting a Mortgage Rate Online as Easy as Shopping on Amazon?

In an era where we buy everything online, should we also shop for mortgages online? There are several reasons to look for mortgages online.

Speed: When users visit WOWA's mortgage rate pages, such as the Canada mortgage rate page, they only need to provide their name, email address, and phone number to a single or a few lenders/brokerages. Mortgage professionals typically contact them within a few minutes to start their mortgage process.

Accuracy: WOWA collects mortgage rates from hundreds of mortgage rate pages of different lenders and brokerages three times daily. As Hanif Bayat, the CEO and founder of WOWA.ca, says, "The most effective form of regulation is healthy competition. By having multiple partners in each province competing with each other, no one can offer a fake rate since competitors would inform WOWA about any suspicious rate."

Product Features: Typically, the advertised mortgages on WOWA are portable, have a regular breaking penalty, and offer between 10% and 20% annual prepayment privilege.

Range of Solutions: WOWA tries to cover all different mortgage products in the market. This includes solutions for bad credit and self-employed buyers by alt-A, B and private lenders. WOWA also tries to provide all the possible options for HELOCs and reverse mortgages in Canada.

Clear Categorization: Mortgage rates depend on various characteristics, such as whether the mortgage is insured, insurable, or uninsurable, which are determined by factors like owner occupancy, loan-to-value ratio, home value, and amortization period. WOWA helps users understand which mortgage type they qualify for and provides personalized and realistic rates based on that information.

Looking ahead, WOWA will continue to build on this momentum and help Canadians by transparently listing their financial options so they can "Simply Know Your Options" and compare their options based on cost and features.

About WOWA Leads Inc.

Founded in 2018 by Hanif Bayat, PhD in Toronto, Canada, WOWA Leads Inc. is a dynamic content platform dedicated to empowering Canadians in their financial journey. With over 1,000 guides, tools and calculators, WOWA is known as "Canada's Personal Finance Encyclopedia" and now with one million monthly page views is proud to be at the forefront of helping Canadians make more informed financial decisions by "Simply Know Your Options."

SOURCE Wowa Leads Inc.