CanadianMortgageTrends.com has released the list of the top banks in Canada based on their mortgage portfolios. Figures from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) show that the country's big six dominate 93 percent of the residential mortgage market.
Ranked in the first spot is Royal Bank of Canada with $229.9 million mortgage book and 23 percent market share, holding one in four bank mortgages. TD follows at No. 2 with $206.3 million mortgage book having a 20.6 percent market share. At No. 3 is Scotiabank with 19 percent market share and $189.9 million mortgage book.
The rest of the list is as follows: CIBC ($166.6 million, 16.7 percent); Bank of Montreal ($97.1 million, 9.7 percent); National Bank ($43.3 million, 4.3 percent); HSBC ($20 million, 2 percent), Laurentian Bank ($16.1 million, 1.6 percent); Equitable Bank ($12.9 million, 1.3 percent); Canadian Western ($4.7 million, 0.5 percent); and Manulife Bank ($2 million, 0.2 percent). The rest of the banks account for the remaining 1 percent of the market with $10 million mortgage book.
Economists believe mortgage rates in Canada will remain steady in the next year or so despite the unexpected rises in the past years and other banks announcing rate increases this year.
"I think that mortgage rates will remain relatively stable," CIBC deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal said, as reported by CBC News. "I just don't see anything that will send them up."
In addition, mortgage costs are expected to plunge given the current economic turmoil involving decreasing oil prices at $50 per barrel and low loonies.
For instance, CIBC's three-year fixed rate has increased to 2.59 percent, while RBC's five-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 3.04 percent.
"It's going to be more expensive for banks to hold mortgages," Robert McLister, a mortgage planner at intelliMortgage and the founder of RateSpy.com, has explained. "They have to put aside more capital and when you put aside more capital, then you can't do other things with it. And that costs you money, so that gets baked into pricing."
