Is 4.25% A Good Mortgage Rate?

As of late October 2026, 4.25% is a very good mortgage rate for a 5-year fixed, because the lowest advertised 5-year fixed rates were about 4.34-4.59%. It also beats the lowest advertised 3-year at about 4.44%. Rates close to it, such as 4.23% and 4.29%, fall in the same bracket. Getting it takes a specific file, a specific timing or a specific lender.

People type 4.25%, 4.23% and 4.29% into search boxes because those are the numbers on their screen. The same logic covers all three: a rate this far under the advertised floor is possible, rare on today's sheets, and worth verifying. Here is where it sits, who reports it, and what it saves in dollars.

Where 4.25% Sits Against The Lowest Advertised Rates

Around October 28, 2026, aggregators put the lowest insured 5-year fixed rates at about 4.34-4.59%, with Tangerine near 4.49%. The lowest 3-year was about 4.44%. Uninsured 5-year fixed rates ran roughly 4.5-5.14%. Big-bank specials were 4.84-4.90%, with TD about 5.39%. At 4.25% you are under every one of those by at least 9 basis points.

Banks also lifted advertised fixed rates by roughly 5-20 basis points through October, so a rate in the 4.2s quoted earlier in the month may be harder to find now. That is one likely reason for a gap between a 4.25% someone saw and a number you are quoted today.

What The Board Shows Near 4.25%

The rate board carries three reports in the neighbourhood, each from r/MortgagesCanada and each a single borrower's report, not an advertisement.

All three predate the October 28 hike or were written the day before it. The 4.14% carries the note that fees are extra, which matters because a fee can erase the savings from a lower rate. The 4.32% is attached to a lender and an approval, which makes it the most concrete of the three. None is an offer on your file.

Who Gets A Rate This Low

Four explanations cover most of it.

Insured and insurable borrowers, because the insurer carries the default risk. Renewal customers, since two of the three rows above are renewal offers. Borrowers working through a broker with access to a rate sheet that is below the bank's front window. And anyone holding a rate from before the October increases. The Scotiabank 120-day hold on the board, a 3-year at 4.6% and a 5-year variable at 3.6% reported October 26 (thread), shows what a hold looks like. A hold is not an offer to the next person.

The insured or uninsured guide sets out the down-payment thresholds and the $1.5 million insured cap that decide which shelf a file is on.

What 4.25% Saves On $500,000

Using the semi-annual compounding formula from the payment guide, over a 25-year amortization:

The $178.49 gap against 4.89% is $2,142 a year and about $10,709 over a five-year term in payments alone. The $69.06 against 4.5% is $829 a year. A lower rate also pays down the principal faster. Neither figure is a promise for your file. They are the size of the prize if you can reach 4.25%.

Why 4.23% And 4.29% Searches Land Here

If the number on your screen is 4.23% or 4.29%, the reading is the same. At 4.23% you are a hundredth under the board's 4.24% renewal. At 4.29% you are five hundredths over it and still under the advertised 5-year floor. The difference between 4.25% and 4.29% on $500,000 over 25 years is about eleven dollars a month. The things that move the answer are the attached conditions: term, insured status, penalty method, whether fees are extra, and how long the rate is held.

Insured, Uninsured And Renewal Versions Of 4.25%

The number means different things on each shelf. If the file is insured, 4.25% is below the lowest advertised 5-year range of about 4.34-4.59%, so it needs an explanation, whether that is a held quote, a lender promotion or a broker sheet from before the month's increases. If the file is uninsured, where advertised 5-year rates ran roughly 4.5-5.14%, 4.25% would be well under the shelf and would be unusual enough to verify in writing. If the number is a renewal offer, it is the most plausible of the three. Borrowers on the board reported renewal offers from 4.24% to 4.79% for a 5-year, and the spread inside that range is exactly the part a second price can narrow.

It is also worth separating a rate that is open to you from a rate that was open to somebody else. The board reports what people were told. A rate someone posted on October 21 does not bind a lender on October 29, and a renewal offer that was written for one borrower's balance, credit and property is not a rate card, especially in a week when prime moved 25 basis points and banks were adjusting fixed rates upward.

Checks Before You Count On It

Ask whether the 4.25% is a 3-year or a 5-year. Around October 28 the lowest advertised 3-year was about 4.44% and the lowest insured 5-year about 4.34%, so a term mismatch changes which advertised figure you are beating. Ask whether fees are extra. Ask for the penalty method. Posted-rate IRD penalties tend to be larger than discounted-rate methods, and the posted 5-year rate was 6.19% in late October. Ask how long the rate holds, since holds run about 90-120 days, and ask whether it survives a change in the down payment.

The renewal timing guide covers how early a renewal can be locked in, and the 4.43% three-year post works through a 3-year row reported earlier in October.

Ask A Broker To Reach 4.25%

If a licensed mortgage broker can price your file near 4.25% on the term you want, that is a saving worth several hundred dollars a year. If they cannot, the next question is how close the lowest rate comes and what the lender wants for it. Request cheaper rates and ask for a 5-year fixed and a 3-year fixed priced as insured or uninsured as your file requires, with a rate hold written into the quote.

Questions

Request cheaper rates