Mortgage Rates After The October 28 Hike

Mortgage rates reported to the rate board in late October 2026 cluster between 4.32% and 4.59% on three-year fixed terms and between 3.40% and 3.58% on five-year variables among the rows shown below. Context matters more than usual: the Bank of Canada hiked its policy rate to 2.50% on October 28, and prime moved from 4.45% to 4.70% the next day, lifting most variable rates by 0.25 points. The page gathers those quotes alongside the BC property transfer tax math a Greater Vancouver purchase involves.

Mortgage Rates Reported After October 28

The board collects real quotes and renewal offers from borrowers in r/MortgagesCanada. None of these are advertised specials; each is what one person was actually quoted or offered, on the date shown. Most variable-rate rows below were quoted against the old 4.45% prime, so a prime minus 1.10 discount works out to about 3.60% now that prime is 4.70%, if the discount holds.

A pattern stands out across the national board: three-year fixed terms dominate. Rows on the board from October 7 to 28 show three-year fixed offers at 3.90% up to 4.89%. Among those big-bank renewal letters, TD's 4.89% sits 0.55 points above the B2B 4.34% broker quote from its October 21 rate sheet. Before you accept a renewal letter, it costs nothing to request cheaper rates and ask a licensed mortgage broker to price your renewal as an uninsured switch, since straight switches at renewal no longer require the stress test at federally regulated lenders.

BC Property Transfer Tax On A Purchase

BC charges a property transfer tax of 1% on the first $200,000 of price, 2% from $200,001 to $2,000,000, 3% above $2,000,000, and a further 2% on residential value above $3,000,000, for a combined 5% on that top slice. It is a real budget item, paid in cash at completion: a $700,000 purchase carries $12,000 of tax, on top of the down payment, legal fees and adjustment costs.

At the Greater Vancouver benchmark of $1,075,900, a repeat buyer budgets $19,518 in transfer tax alone.

The First-Time Buyer And New Build Exemptions

Since April 1, 2024, the first time home buyer BC exemption eliminates the tax entirely on homes with a fair market value of $500,000 or less, and gives a fixed $8,000 exemption between $500,001 and $835,000. The exemption then phases out and is gone at $860,000.

The newly built home exemption is more generous: a full exemption up to $1,100,000, phasing out to nothing at $1,150,000. A first-time buyer purchasing a new $1,050,000 condo pays zero transfer tax, a saving of about $19,000 against the schedule, which at that price carries $19,000 in tax. The BC exemption can sit alongside federal programs: the FHSA allows $8,000 a year to a $40,000 lifetime, and the RRSP Home Buyers' Plan allows up to $60,000 per person, both of which can fund the down payment. The first-time home buyer guide walks through those federal pieces.

Financing A Greater Vancouver Benchmark Home

The Greater Vancouver MLS HPI composite benchmark was $1,075,900 in September 2026, down 5.5% year over year, with the detached benchmark at $1,784,700, down 7.3%. At $1,075,900, the benchmark home is above the $1.5 million insured cap only in the detached segment; the composite itself qualifies for insured financing, where 5% down applies to the first $500,000 and 10% to the portion from $500,000 to $1.5 million. That works out to $82,590 down on the benchmark, $25,000 on the first $500,000 plus $57,590 on the remaining $575,900, and it also qualifies first-time buyers and new-build purchasers for a 30-year insured amortization.

Payments below are per $600,000 borrowed, monthly, with Canadian semi-annual compounding, taken from the site payment table. On a $860,720 mortgage (benchmark price less 20% down, which would be uninsured), the payment is not in the table, but $600,000 illustrates how sharply each quarter point moves the math across the rate range on the board.

Take the TD renewal letter at 4.89% posted to the board on October 28: on $600,000 over 25 years the payment is $3,452.15, versus $3,267.68 at the 4.34% three-year fixed among the late-October rows shown, a gap of $184.47 a month. On a 30-year amortization the same comparison is $3,162.85 against $2,969.68, or $193.17 a month. Qualifying adds another layer: insured files must pass the stress test at the higher of the contract rate plus 2 points or 5.25%, and CMHC's limits for insured mortgages are 39% GDS and 44% TDS. Uninsured limits are each lender's own and are not published. The stress test guide covers how the qualifying rate is set.

Best Mortgage Rates In BC: Insured, Uninsured And Term

The best rates reported on the board split along insured and uninsured lines. Insured files, with less than 20% down, consistently price lower: the October 28 aggregator low on a five-year fixed was about 4.34% to 4.59% insured, versus roughly 4.5% to 5.14% uninsured, and the lowest five-year variable was about 3.41% insured, quoted against the old 4.45% prime. Uninsured variables ran about 3.64% to 4.29% on the same snapshot. Treat all of those as advertised around October 28, never as a quote.

On the board itself, the sharpest numbers in late October were broker-sourced: prime minus 1.10 (3.35% at the old prime) on a variable and B2B's 4.34% three-year fixed from its October 21 rate sheet. A 4.24% five-year fixed renewal was also posted October 21. Term choice is doing a lot of work this month. Five-year fixed rates barely moved on the hike because they price off the five-year Government of Canada yield, which has sat between 3.50% and 3.69% since late September, while variables repriced the full 25 basis points on October 29. The fixed or variable guide and the prime rate page break down the tradeoff.

Renewing A Mortgage At 4.70% Prime

Roughly 60% of outstanding Canadian mortgages renew in 2025 or 2026 by the Bank of Canada's July 2025 count, and the FSR of May 2026 noted the last big cohort of pandemic-era five-year fixed-payment mortgages, about 12% of the total, renews over the twelve months to mid-2027 with average payment increases of about 15%. Those figures predate the October hike, but the direction is clear: a large cohort is renewing into rates well above what their existing terms carry.

The mechanics favour early action. Federally regulated lenders must send the renewal statement at least 21 days before term ends, and many let you hold a rate about 120 days early, which one board row confirms: Scotiabank quoted a 4.6% three-year fixed on a 120-day hold on October 26. If your term ends between now and February 2027, holding today's three-year fixed quotes while the December 9 and January 27 decisions play out is one option; the Bank of Canada said a further increase may be needed and it will proceed carefully, while BMO expects another 25 basis point hike in January 2027 and CIBC sees likely one more and no higher than 2.75%. Those are bank forecasts, not certainties.

Switches at renewal have one advantage worth pricing: since November 21, 2024, uninsured straight switches at federally regulated lenders are exempt from the stress test, same loan amount, no longer amortization. BC credit unions follow provincial rules instead. Whether your file is insured, uninsured or a refinance changes which lender will beat a 4.89% renewal letter, so request cheaper rates and have a licensed mortgage broker price your renewal as a switch against your current lender's offer, including any cash-back or hold they offered. The renewal rates page shows what other renewal offers look like this month, and the renewal calculator runs the payment math.

Questions