Leah Zlatkin quoted in the Financial Post: ‘Posthaste: Mortgage borrowers who held out for lower rates are paying the price’

“Over the past few months, I’ve seen clients turn down fixed-rate renewal offers around 3.7 per cent because they were convinced rates would keep falling,” said Leah Zlatkin, a mortgage broker.

“Now those same borrowers are coming back and finding that the best available rates start with a four. That delay is already resulting in higher monthly payments.”

By the end of 2026, more than a third of Canadian homeowners will renew their mortgages, many of them at higher rates from the lows of the pandemic.

Over the past year, variable rates have dropped more than fixed, from 7 per cent in June 2024 to slightly below 4 per cent as the Bank of Canada cut its benchmark rate.

However, further relief on this front now looks unlikely with the central bank expected to keep rates steady this year or, as some believe, raise them by year end.