5% cashback mortgages are the Rodney Dangerfield of lending—they get no respect. Critics pan their higher rates and the fact borrowers have to pay back the cash rebate (typically pro-rata) if they break the mortgage early. Yet, for the right borrower, these maligned products are a sleeper hit. In

💡Don't miss the CMLS rumour in today's Mortgage Bytes (below). When employment's on fire, mortgage rates can catch the spark. And while today's jobs report may not have been a raging inferno (growth is expected given massive population growth), it was hot

📰Also in this edition: • Capitalizing on consumer mortgage trends • Mortgage Bytes If we had a chart of the week, it would be this one. Citigroup's U.S. economic surprise index (chart above) has turned negative for the first time in well over a year. A reading below zero

💡Also in this edition: • Home Buyers' Plan Strategies Last month, the government excitedly announced it was jacking up the RRSP Home Buyers' Plan (HBP) withdrawal limit from $35,000 to a roomier $60,000. That made us and many others wonder: who's actually benefiting from this