RateLens, Daniel De Sousa, Mortgage Associate, Indi The Independent Mortgage Company Ltd. o/a Indi Mortgage

Variable rates

Variable mortgage rates

Each variable rate is shown two ways, side by side: the effective rate you'd pay today and the prime-minus formula you'd lock in.

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Today's 5-year variable

Featured rate
Rate
3.55%
APR
3.60%

Prime − 0.90% · prime is 4.45%

Payment on $500,000
$2,517
You’d be qualified at
5.55%
Rate hold
120 days

Rates as of September 21, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. MT, subject to change without notice. O.A.C. Payment assumes a 25-year amortization with monthly payments and excludes property taxes, heat and condominium fees.

Rates as of September 21, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. MT

More than 24 hours old

Prime 4.45% · policy rate 2.25% (held September 2, 2026)

All published rates

We calculate every payment ourselves, on $500,000 over 25 years. The qualifying column is the greater of the contract rate plus 2 percentage points or 5.25%.

2 rates

Filtered by

  • 5 year variable

    insured
    Rate
    3.55%
    APR
    3.60%

    Prime − 0.90%

    Payment on $500,000
    $2,517
    You’d qualify at
    5.55%
    Hold this rate

  • 5 year variable

    uninsured
    Rate
    4.20%
    APR
    4.25%

    Prime − 0.25%

    Payment on $500,000
    $2,695
    You’d qualify at
    6.20%
    Hold this rate

Rates shown are current as of September 21, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. MT and are subject to change without notice. Rates are available on approved credit (O.A.C.) only, are subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable lender, and may vary based on your credit history, income, down payment or equity, loan-to-value, property type and location, occupancy, amortization, and whether the mortgage is insured, insurable or uninsured.

Annual percentage rates (APR) shown assume a mortgage amount of $500,000, an amortization of 25 years with monthly payments, and include no lender or brokerage fees. Fixed rates are compounded semi-annually, not in advance, as required under section 6 of the federal Interest Act; variable rates are compounded monthly. Payment figures exclude property taxes, heating, condominium fees and default insurance premiums unless stated. Insured rates require mortgage default insurance and are available only on qualifying transactions.

Rates may contain errors or omissions and do not constitute an offer of credit, a rate hold or a pre-approval. Not all applicants will qualify. Contact Daniel De Sousa, Mortgage Associate, to confirm the rate available to you. Daniel De Sousa is licensed by the Real Estate Council of Alberta (RECA) and registered with Indi The Independent Mortgage Company Ltd. o/a Indi Mortgage.

At 3.55%, you’d be qualified at 5.55%

Lenders don’t approve you at the rate you pay. Under OSFI Guideline B-20, they approve you at the minimum qualifying rate: the greater of your contract rate plus 2 percentage points, or 5.25%. It’s the most common reason a pre-approval comes back lower than a buyer expected.

Run the stress test

What a variable rate means for your payment. With a variable-rate mortgage your interest rate moves with your lender’s prime rate. Depending on the product, either your payment changes with the rate, or your payment stays the same and the split between principal and interest changes. With a fixed-payment variable mortgage, if rates rise far enough your payment may no longer cover all the interest you owe. That point is called your trigger rate. Past it, your balance can grow instead of shrink. This is called negative amortization, and your lender will typically require you to increase your payment or make a lump-sum payment. We’ll show you your trigger rate before you choose a variable product, and we’ll tell you what happens if you reach it.

Compare a fixed and a variable side by side with your own numbers, including the rate path where they break even.

Each lender sets its own prime rate

The Bank of Canada sets a policy rate. Each lender then sets its own prime rate, which has historically sat about 2.2 percentage points above the policy rate and moves within a day or two of a policy change. Your variable mortgage is priced off prime, and lenders can move it on their own. It has happened.

That's why the formula matters. Prime minus 0.90% at one lender and prime minus 0.90% at another are the same today only because both primes are the same today.

Your discount is set once and kept for the term

Your discount off prime is set when the mortgage funds and holds for the full term. If new customers are offered a deeper discount next quarter, yours doesn't change. So the time to negotiate the discount is before the mortgage funds.

This is where shopping through a brokerage pays off. The gap between a bank branch's opening variable offer and the deepest broker-channel discount on the same lender panel is often a quarter point or more, for the same mortgage.

Your rate

Why your rate may differ from the one above

The rates on this page are for a clean, standard file. These 5 things change the rate you're offered, and we'll tell you where your file stands before you apply.

  • Your down payment

    Under 20% down means an insured mortgage. Insured mortgages usually get lower rates because the lender's loss is covered, so putting more money down can mean a higher rate.

  • Insured, insurable or uninsured

    Each one is a separate price tier. A refinance can never be insured, so it's always priced in the top tier, no matter how much equity you have.

  • Your amortization

    Going past 25 years moves an insured file into a higher premium band and pushes some files out of the insured tier altogether. A 30-year amortization is available to first-time buyers and on new builds.

  • The property and how you use it

    The benchmark is an owner-occupied detached home in Edmonton. A rental, a second home, an acreage over about 10 acres, a rural water supply or a small condo unit each narrow the list of lenders and usually add to the rate.

  • Your credit and income profile

    Your Beacon score, how long you've had credit, and whether your income is salaried, commission, self-employed or rotational decide which lenders will look at your file. That's what sets the price.

Rate holds

What a rate hold is

A rate hold is a lender's commitment to honour today's rate for a set period (up to 120 days) while you shop, wait for a closing, or count down to your renewal.

It's free

There's no fee and no commitment to that lender. A single credit check through a brokerage won't damage your credit file.

It works one way

If rates fall before you close, you take the lower rate. If they rise, you keep the rate you held.

It isn't an approval

A hold reserves pricing. It doesn't confirm your income, down payment or the property. The pre-approval and then the full application do that.

Hold today’s rate

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Get an email when this rate moves

Pick a target and we’ll email you when our published rate reaches it, or every time it changes. Daniel can also check what lenders are charging today for a file like yours. Renewing? Plan your renewal

Set a rate alert

Today’s 5-year variable, insured rate is 3.55% (3.60% APR), as of September 21, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. MT. We’ll email you when it moves.

Email me

Today it's 3.55%. We'll email you when it's at or below your target.

Rate alert emails

We check once a day after we publish rates and send at most one email per move. We use your email only for these alerts. See our Privacy Policy.

Rate history

Rate history from verified snapshots only

This chart uses our own published rate board, month by month. None of those monthly snapshots has been approved for publication yet, so the chart stays empty until one is. Ask Daniel for current offers and the history behind them.

Policy rate

Bank of Canada and prime

Variable rates move with your lender's prime rate, and prime moves with the Bank of Canada's policy rate. Fixed rates follow the bond market instead, which usually moves first.

When the Bank holds, variable payments stay where they are. A cut lowers a variable payment. On a fixed-payment variable product, the payment stays the same and more of it goes to principal. Neither changes a fixed rate you’ve already signed. If you’re within 120 days of a renewal, keep an eye on these announcement dates.

See past Bank of Canada decisions
Policy rate
2.25%
Held September 2, 2026
Prime rate
4.45%
As of September 15, 2026
Next scheduled announcement
October 28, 2026

 

Questions about these rates

If prime drops, does my payment drop?
On an adjustable-payment variable, yes. The payment is recalculated. On a fixed-payment variable, the payment stays the same and more of it goes to principal, so you pay the mortgage down faster. Ask which one you're being offered, because lenders don't always say.
What is negative amortization?
It's when your payment no longer covers the interest, so the unpaid interest is added to your balance and the mortgage grows. It can only happen on a fixed-payment variable, and only once you pass your trigger rate. Your lender will require you to raise the payment or make a lump-sum payment before it goes far.
Can I lock a variable into a fixed rate?
Most variable products let you convert to a fixed term of equal or greater remaining length, at the lender's rates on the day you convert. It's a useful safety valve, but converting under pressure rarely gets you the lender's sharpest fixed rate.

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