Rocket expands and rebrands in Canada

The nation’s top mortgage lender is taking its name across the northern border.

Windsor, Ontario based Edison Financial, a monoline lender part of Rocket Companies, will rebrand next month as Rocket Mortgage Canada, the firms announced this week. Edison began serving customers in 2020 with seed funding from Rock Holdings and has since reached $1 billion in Canadian dollars in annualized submitted volume. 

“We've spent the last 37 years defining and redefining the way mortgages should be done in the U.S. — and now we have the opportunity through this rebrand to share everything we've learned with our neighbors to the north,” said Bob Walters, CEO of Rocket Mortgage in the U.S., in a press release.

Edison president Hash Aboulhosn launched Edison in 2017 before winding it down to join Rocket-owned Canadian mortgage services fintech Lendesk Technologies in 2018.

“Today’s announcement is the first step in bringing Canadians a vastly-improved mortgage process through technology, innovation and client service,” said Aboulhosn. 

The Canadian firm said it works with over 50 lenders and offers purchase, refinance, home equity line of credit and mortgage renewal products for customers who owe debt when their term ends. Most borrowers in the country have mortgage terms of 5 years or less, amortized over a 25-year period.

Rocket Mortgage Canada plans to add direct lending later this year, according to the announcement.

Edison’s headquarters sit less than three miles across the Detroit River and international border from Rocket’s headquarters. The company offers mortgages in all 10 Canadian provinces and said it has a workforce of more than 140 employees. Clients won’t be affected by the name change, according to the announcement.

Canada’s housing market and rate environment have largely mirrored its southern neighbor. The market flourished during the pandemic and home prices soared, but sales began to slow in the spring while record-low inventory began to rebound, according to a June report by the Canadian Real Estate Association. 

The Bank of Canada, the country’s central bank, responded to 40-year high inflation by raising its interest rate by a full percentage point Wednesday to 2.5%, the largest one-time increase since 1998, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported. The 5-year fixed mortgage rate, according to Edison, was 4.89% as of Wednesday afternoon.