![\"Ron](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Ron-Butler.png\")
Ron Butler<\/p>\n
Then on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced<\/a> that the Treasury would double a scheduled US$2-billion bond buyback in an effort to calm the market. The relief was short-lived: after falling below 5.2% on Thursday, the 10-year Treasury yield was back up to 5.277% by Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n \u201cIt didn\u2019t work as well as he hoped, but the fact that he did it is a clear indication of a growing worldwide concern over the relentless increase in long-term bond yields, which is simply a function of uncontrollable deficits in multiple countries,\u201d says Ron Butler of Butler Mortgage, noting similarly high debt levels in countries like France, the United Kingdom and Japan.<\/p>\n Tax cuts introduced under the Biden and Trump administrations, coupled with higher spending on infrastructure, pandemic stimulus and the war with Iran, have pushed U.S. debt into dangerous territory, Butler says. At the same time, attacks on oil refineries and other infrastructure in the Middle East and Russia are fuelling concerns about elevated energy prices and persistent global inflation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are in a kind of a miniature version of a world war right now, with big powers pushing the buttons,\u201d Butler says. \u201cNothing can push fixed rates down in the near term, because there\u2019s no reason to think that Iranians are going to suddenly surrender or Ukrainians will stop blowing up Russian refineries and Russian oil shipment points.\u201d<\/p>\n With bond-yield concerns and inflationary pressures dominating the headlines, RMG Mortgages vice-president of national sales Bruno Valko says policymakers will be keen to find solutions, but warns there is only so much they can do to reverse course.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s good to see that the debt is in the news. It\u2019s good to see that the Treasury in the United States is concerned about yields, and it\u2019s on their radar. That\u2019s the good news,\u201d says Valko. \u201cI can\u2019t predict whether or not they\u2019ll be successful in the future, but at least they\u2019re working on it.\u201d<\/p>\n What rising yields mean for mortgage rates<\/p>\n Fixed mortgage rates are being pulled higher by rising government bond yields, while variable mortgage rates remain stable, at least for now.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the variable side, the discounts are the same, but the fixed rates are going up,\u201d Valko says. \u201cYou\u2019re taking the risk of those rates potentially going up in the future, but even so, there\u2019s enough of a buffer to allow for potentially three quarter-point increases from the Bank of Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n Given the increase in fixed mortgage rates, Valko favours a variable rate for borrowers who can tolerate the uncertainty and have enough financial flexibility to manage potential payment increases.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m in a variable personally, and if rates go up, I\u2019m not going to be happy about it, but I can tolerate it,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t lie awake at night worried at the Bank of Canada is going to increase rates because if they do, it\u2019s not going to impact me so much, so it really comes down to risk tolerance, and your financial position.\u201d<\/p>\n Butler, however, is more cautious about variable-rate mortgages. \u201cThe potential for Bank of Canada rate increases in 2027 is real,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Butler notes that the Bank of Canada estimates the neutral policy rate at between 2.25% and 2.75%, suggesting the current 2.25% rate may not hold if inflation continues to accelerate. He adds that if the Bank does begin raising rates, history suggests it is unlikely to stop after a single increase.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you see a fixed rate below 4.19%, below 4.10%, take it,\u201d he advises. \u201cThe idea that we\u2019ll get back to rates that start with a two is completely crazy. Even a three seems pretty doubtful for the rest of this year and most of next year.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n Visited 5,047 times, 1,157 visit(s) today<\/p>\n 5-year bond yield<\/a> bond yields<\/a> Bruno Valko<\/a> butler mortgage<\/a> Editor’s pick<\/a> fixed mortgage rates<\/a> interest rates<\/a> mortgage rate trends<\/a> rmg mortgages<\/a> ron butler<\/a><\/p>\n Last modified: August 22, 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canadian fixed mortgage rates are moving higher again as turmoil in global bond markets pushes the five-year Government…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[138,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-577982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Bruno](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Bruno-Valko.png\")
Bruno Valko, VP, National Sales, RMG Mortgages<\/p>\n