Mortgage Rates Quebec After The October 28 Hike

Quebec mortgage shoppers woke on October 29, 2026, to prime at 4.70%, after the Bank of Canada raised its overnight target to 2.50% and the big banks lifted prime from 4.45%. Desjardins, whose prime of 4.70% is confirmed on its own site, moved with them. Desjardins is advertising a 5-year fixed special of 4.89% (posted 6.19%), while borrowers on the national rate board report 3-year fixed rates as low as 3.90% over the whole board and a variable quoted at prime minus 1.10 on October 28, against the old 4.45% prime. This page collects what lenders published, what borrowers actually reported, and the Quebec closing costs that sit on top of the rate.

Mortgage Rates Quebec Lenders Published After October 28

The October 28 decision was the first hike since July 2023, a 25 basis point move that took the overnight target from 2.25% to 2.50%. RBC, TD, BMO, Scotiabank and CIBC all raised prime to 4.70% effective October 29, and Desjardins, confirmed from Desjardins' own site, is listed separately from the five big banks at the same 4.70% prime. Prime now sits 2.20 points above the overnight target. The Bank of Canada said a further increase may be needed and that it will proceed carefully. The next decision is December 9, 2026.

Desjardins publishes a full rate packet on its own site, and those figures anchor this page. Its rates as of October 29, 2026:

This site is independent and not affiliated with Desjardins or any bank; the name is used only to identify whose rates are shown. Other lenders updated at different speeds. RBC published new specials effective October 29, Scotiabank posted closed fixed rates the same day, and TD, CIBC and BMO had not refreshed their rate pages when checked on October 29. For those three, the advertised 5-year fixed specials around October 28 were roughly BMO 4.84%, CIBC 4.84% and TD 5.39%, per aggregator snapshots.

Posted rates are not what borrowers pay; they are the ceiling. Qualification runs at the higher of the contract rate plus 2 points or 5.25%.

Desjardins Posted And Special Rates In Context

The gap between Desjardins' posted 6.19% and its 4.89% special is 1.30 points. That spread is exactly why board rows matter: a posted rate tells you a lender exists, a special tells you the marketing price, and a real quote tells you what your file gets. On the variable side, Desjardins' reduced 5-year variable at 4.35% is 0.35 points below its own prime, which is a thin discount compared with what brokers have been quoting. One row on the national board from October 28 described a broker quote of prime minus 1.10, a 3.35% variable from an unnamed lender, reported here; that was quoted against the old 4.45% prime, so it is about 3.60% now if the discount holds.

Before you compare, note that payments move fast when the rate does. On a $400,000 mortgage over 25 years, the payment table shows $2,233.95 at 4.59% and $2,200.57 at 4.44%, a difference of $33.38 a month for 0.15 points. Ask a licensed mortgage broker to price your file against both the Desjardins special and broker-channel 3-year and 5-year fixed rates, since the board shows monoline and bank pricing that never appears on a posted rate page.

The Quebec Welcome Tax

Quebec has no first-time buyer exemption from the land transfer tax, known locally as the welcome tax. Outside Montreal, most municipalities apply the default provincial brackets: 0.5% on the first $62,900 of the price, 1% from $62,901 to $315,000, and 1.5% above $315,000.

The computed amounts at default brackets:

For orientation, national context from CREA's October 16, 2026 release: the Canadian average price was $666,538 in September, down 1.6% year over year. A Quebec average or Montreal price figure is not available in the data this page is built from, so none is printed here.

Montreal's Higher Welcome Tax Brackets

Montreal charges its own, steeper brackets for 2026: 0.5% to $62,900; 1% to $315,000; 1.5% to $552,300; 2% to $1,104,700; 2.5% to $2,136,500; 3.5% to $3,113,000; and 4% above that. The difference from the provincial default only appears above $552,300, but it compounds quickly on mid-priced homes.

A buyer paying $1,500,000 in Montreal owes $6,715 more in welcome tax than the same purchase outside the city's brackets. Budget for it as cash at closing, not as part of the mortgage.

The Refundable Home-Buyer Credit For 2026

Quebec softens the welcome tax for some buyers through a refundable home-buyer tax credit on 2026 acquisitions. It reimburses up to $5,875 of the transfer tax, calculated as 100% of the first $5,000 plus 25% of the next $3,500. The credit is reduced above a $750,000 tax base and disappears at $1,000,000, per Revenu Quebec's April 21, 2026 update.

On a $500,000 purchase, the welcome tax is $5,611, and the credit works out to $5,152.75 on that bill: 100% of the first $5,000 plus 25% of the $611 above it. On a $750,000 purchase in Montreal, the $10,349 bill would only ever be partly offset. Federal first-time buyer measures stack alongside it: the FHSA allows $8,000 a year to a $40,000 lifetime, and the Home Buyers' Plan allows up to $60,000 per person from an RRSP. The shared-equity First-Time Home Buyer Incentive closed to new applications after March 21, 2024 and is no longer available.

What The National Rate Board Shows

The best rates rarely sit on a lender's homepage. The board carries rows from borrowers across the country, dated and linked; no row is tied to a province or city. Recent rows:

• 3.35% variable, broker quote at prime minus 1.10 from a lender not named, October 28, 2026, reported on the board. Quoted against the old 4.45% prime.
• 4.59% fixed 3-year, a broker offer from National Bank, October 28, 2026, reported on the board.
• 4.44% fixed 3-year, posted as available at BMO, October 28, 2026, reported on the board.
• 4.34% fixed 3-year, broker quote from a B2B rate sheet dated October 21, reported on the board.
• 3.45% variable 5-year, described as an approval at BMO, October 28, 2026, reported on the board. Variable rows from before October 29 were quoted against 4.45% prime.

Comparing like with like, the B2B broker-quoted 5-year fixed at 4.54% sits 0.35 points below Desjardins' 4.89% 5-year special. The 3-year rows are a different term and are not directly comparable with a 5-year special. On a $500,000 mortgage over 25 years, the payment table shows $2,792.44 at 4.59% versus $2,876.79 at 4.89%, a gap of $84.35 a month. For how to judge a specific number, see what a good rate looks like right now and today's 3-year fixed page. If your term ends soon, the renewal timing guide at when to shop a renewal covers the 120-day hold windows lenders offer, and the renewal calculator runs your own numbers.

Variable borrowers should read the prime context first. Prime at 4.70% raises every prime-linked payment, and more hikes are possible: BMO expects another 25 basis points in January 2027, Desjardins expects one more hike with data-dependent timing, and CIBC sees one more with a 2.75% ceiling, all reported after the October decision. Those are their calls, not this site's. The details are in today's prime rate page and in current variable rates.

What To Ask A Broker About Your Quebec File

A lender's published special is one number among many. Before you settle, request cheaper rates and ask a licensed mortgage broker to price three specific things side by side: the Desjardins 4.89% 5-year special against broker-channel 5-year fixed quotes, the 3-year fixed spread between bank and monoline lenders, and any variable quote re-stated at today's 4.70% prime rather than the 4.45% most October rows were quoted against. Quebec files carry the welcome tax at closing, and PST on any CMHC premium is paid up front and cannot be added to the loan, so the cash picture matters as much as the rate. Bring your price range, down payment and closing date, and let the broker show you the full gap between posted and real pricing.

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