2 biggest banks of Canada raise their fixed mortgage rates

TD and RBC, two of Canada's biggest banks are raising their benchmark rates for five-year, fixed-rate mortgages.

TD says as of Wednesday it increased its posted rate for five-year fixed mortgages to 5.59 per cent from 5.14 per cent.

Royal Bank spokesman AJ Goodman says the lender plans to raise its posted rate for a five-year fixed mortgage on Monday to 5.34 per cent compared with the 5.14 per cent currently posted.

Starting now:

• TD's two-year closed rate is 3.44 per cent, up from 3.34 previously.
• TD's three-year closed rate is 3.59 per cent, up from 3.49 previously.
• TD's benchmark five-year closed rate is 5.59 per cent, up from 5.14 per cent.
• TD's six-year closed rate is 5.64 per cent, up from 5.14 per cent previously.
• TD's seven-year closed rate is  5.80 per cent, up from 5.3 per cent previously.

Now that two of the banks have moved, would-be homeowners should expect more of the same from other lenders, author and financial advisor Hilliard MacBeth said in an interview Friday. "Seems to me that once one of them moves, they all seem to move," he said. "I've never seen it any other way."

Mortgage planner and rate comparison website founder Robert McLister says the increase is "unusual" as the benchmark rate hasn't seen a jump of 45 basis points or more since March 2010.

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