One of the interesting things about the Canadian mortgage market is that there is no such thing as a 20, 25 or 30 year fixed mortgage. The longest term ever offered is 5 years. Amortization periods can be 10, 15, 20 or 25 years, but you need to renegotiate at maximum every 5 years.

In general the interest rates are highest for fixed 5-year mortgages, 1 and 2 years are lowest.

There is absolutely no practical way in Canada to lock in a mortgage for long term fixed interest rates beyond 5 years. This has previously had interesting effects, such as in the early 1980s when people who owned their homes, had existing mortgages come up for renewal and encountered the new 18% interest rates. Either resulting in serious financial hardship or fire-sale quick sales because they could no longer afford to service the mortgage.

Some people are currently getting mortgages which are fully ARM and hoping things maintain the status quo.

The CMHC, federal agency which sells mandatory mortgage insurance for high-ratio loans, recently implemented a new stress test.

https://jacquiebushell.ca/2017-mortgage-rules-changes-explai...

Not to say that Canada wasn't significantly affected by the 2008-2009 financial crisis. But much stronger and stricter banking regulations meant that the domestic big-5 banks' exposure to low-quality American mortgage products was lower. And there were much fewer no-doc/no-income/poor-quality mortgages created for Canadian properties. There was definitely no domestic equivalent to Countrywide or Washington Mutual's massive tranches of shit mortgages and mortgage backed securities.