Higher-rate renewals are pushing discipline rather than stress, says Premiere Mortgage Centre’s Albert
Canada’s mortgage renewal wave isn’t exactly fading, with scores of five-year mortgages still renewing at much higher rates than when they were originated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many borrowers who took out fixed mortgages at rock-bottom rates in 2021 are facing a big jump in borrowing costs at renewal time, a trend many economists flagged as a potentially significant hazard for the market.
Still, mortgage brokers note that many clients are taking a disciplined and responsible approach to that trend, with refinances and debt consolidation helping keep household budgets under control and allowing borrowers to meet the challenges of higher rates.
“We have a ton of refinances right now,” Sarah Albert (pictured top), a New Brunswick-based broker with Premiere Mortgage Centre, told Canadian Mortgage Professional. “We’re basically resetting mortgages to 25, 30 years, consolidating some debt and actually saving them some money each month where they can kind of maintain their lifestyle.”
The renewal wave has long been marked as one of the defining trends in Canada’s mortgage market for 2025 and 2026, with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) showing in its latest residential mortgage industry report that renewal volumes dominated industry activity through last year.
An easing of sorts is expected through the rest of this year, though the financial pressure on borrowers facing higher payments hasn’t let up.
Albert, though, said many impacted borrowers aren’t as financially stretched by the changes as some might believe.
“What I’m finding is that they’re just trying to lower their payments,” she said. “They’re coming up for renewal and the rate is higher, but they’ve still got a bunch of equity, our 2021 clients.
“To mitigate the increase in the cost of living, groceries, insurance costs – everything’s more expensive – we’re resetting mortgages and actually saving them some money each month.”
That strategy is less about financial stress and more about discipline, she said: cutting back on non-essential spending and putting a strong focus on making sure higher mortgage payments and housing costs can be covered.
“I’m not seeing a lot of overspending,” Albert said. “It’s a priority for them, and their families are priorities right now. I’m seeing that vacations are going by the wayside, or they’re doing staycations. I’m also running into a lot of clients that are doing work on their house to make it more like they want to stay home.”
Putting stressed customers at ease
One of the biggest roles for mortgage brokers at renewal time is talking clients down from worst-case assumptions about what higher rates or payments might mean.
Many customers are calmed, according to Albert, when they realize that their situation isn’t unique and plenty of other borrowers are also handling similar rate and cost increases.
“I have a lot of clients that are calling right now… We’re seeing a lot of panic,” she said. “And then when they talk to us, they’re like, ‘Oh, I’m not a bad client.’ I keep saying to them, ‘You’re a better client than you think you are. You’re human. We just need to reset this and learn this lesson, and I’ve got you.’”
She said some borrowers who would have easily qualified for prime lending two years ago are now shifting into alternative lending, though rarely all the way into subprime territory.
Top advice to mortgage brokers: pick up the phone
For brokers helping their clients through the current market volatility, Albert said a human and personal touch is important – and that assuming AI can do most of the legwork is the wrong approach.
“The brokers that are winning right now are picking up the phone. The brokers that are losing are hiding behind email and social media,” she said.
“If you want to measure success as brokers right now, we have to measure it in how many people we talk to in a day – genuine conversations. We’ve got to get out of our emails. We’ve got to talk to people, educate people. It’s huge. It’s where the win is.”
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