piperrat

比较同意skyrose的观点。
Variable也分open和close，不是说将来利率升上去了，你想转固定就能转的，搞不好还得交点罚金。如果自己有能力take这个risk，并及时跟踪利率变化作调整，应该是比较省钱。
但是大部分人没能力也不愿意把事情搞得这么复杂，所以选固定也算一个懒人的办法。可以说最近的利率已经接近历史最低点，另外一个帖子里BMO的special promote都到五年3.55%了，也就比银行自己的Prime高1.3%，还能要多低呢？央行的prime一开始涨，银行prime涨的幅度可能会更大。咱移民在这里很多都是第一次买房，对利率的把握远不如当地人，在预期利率可能涨的背景下选固定也不失一个稳妥的选择。

freememory

As far as I know, even closed variable mortgages can be converted into a fixed mortgage with a term no shorter than the remained variable term without penalty. The trick is that most big banks ask much higher conversion rate(posted rate) than the rate you can get for a new mortgage(discounted rate). But some small banks or financial institutes provide hassle free conversion option like ING Direct, which has a posted rate similar to the big banks' discounted rate.

Again, I totally agree at current economy situation, the fixed rate will be likely more than ever to be a good option .