Mortgage Rates in Alberta
From mountains to prairies to desert badlands, Alberta is the fourth largest province in Canada. Alberta had the second largest year-over-year population growth among Canada’s provinces in 2020. The Government of Alberta estimates that 80% of Alberta’s population will live in the Edmonton-Calgary corridor by 2046, which includes Red Deer and Airdrie.
The Calgary Real Estate Board found that declines in mortgage rates and lower housing prices have pushed up sales in the Calgary housing market, resulting in a 23% increase in sales in 2020 year-over-year. Calgary housing prices in 2020 are 10% below their all-time highs and 1% lower than in 2019, with the average price of a residential property being $474,000. Calgary housing prices led the province followed by Fort McMurray at $400,000, Edmonton at $379,000, and Red Deer at $329,000 as of October 2020.
The Edmonton housing market saw similar gains in sales, featuring a 26.3% increase in sales in 2020 year-over-year. This was partly led by sales of single-family homes, which increased by 38% in October, while condo unit sales lagged behind at a 2.37% increase. Alberta saw the highest rate of mortgage deferrals in Canada in 2020, at double the proportion of Ontario’s and British Columbia’s.
The average age of a mortgage applicant in Alberta is 37 years old, while the average annual gross income of a mortgage applicant is $67,500.
Mortgage Lenders in Alberta
Canada’s Big Banks are ubiquitous throughout the country, and include RBC, TD, Scotiabank, CIBC, and BMO. There are 16 credit unions in Alberta for a total of over 600,000 members. The largest credit union in Alberta is Servus Credit Union, which is also the fourth largest credit union in Canada and includes First Calgary Financial, Chinook Financial, Mountain View Financial, and Legacy Financial. Connect First Credit Union and Vision Credit Unions are the second and third largest in Alberta.
Banks headquartered include Bridgewater Bank in Calgary and Canadian Western Bank in Edmonton. ATB Financial is a provincial crown corporation and is the only financial institution in Canada that is owned by a province. ATB Financial only operates within Alberta.
Mortgage Brokers
There are 2,326 licensed mortgage brokers and associates in Alberta, 1,345 of which are members of the Alberta Mortgage Brokers Association (AMBA). Some members of the AMBA include Invis, Mortgage Intelligence, Mortgage Alliance, and Verico, who are all part of the M3 Financial Group, the largest non-bank mortgage originator in Canada. Some other mortgage brokers include Axiom, Apex Mortgage, MMG Mortgages, Trilogy Mortgage Corporation, and Quantus Mortgage Solutions.
The Real Estate Council of Alberta (RECA) licenses 345 mortgage brokerages in Alberta and oversaw 878 complaints in 2018. Through their Real Estate Assurance Fund, RECA paid out over $145,000 from 2018-2019 in claims to consumers to compensate for fraud or breaches of trust in real estate and mortgage transactions. Provincially regulated financial institutions, such as credit unions, are overseen by the Alberta Superintendent of Financial Institutions.
While we try our best to get you the best rates, we cannot guarantee that they are always accurate. WOWA assumes no liability for the accuracy of the information presented, and will not be held responsible for any damages resulting from its use.
