The State of the Residential Mortgage Market: 2021 Despite the headwinds of a global pandemic, Canadians’ interest in real estate and the resulting rise in prices took even the most seasoned experts by surprise. This, of course, had major implications for the mortgage market. Mortgage Professionals Canada’s Annual State of the Residential Mortgage Market in Canada report […]

Latest in Mortgage News: Rising Prices Spur Talk of Capital Gains Tax on Home Sales The Globe and Mail‘s Editorial Board tread into controversial territory recently by saying Canada’s “bonkers” housing market is making the case for taxing capital gains on the sale of principal residences. The editorial readily admits it would be the country’s “most unpopular tax,” […]

FOMO & Tight Housing Supply Drive Home Prices to a New Record For the eighth straight month, Canadian home prices set a new record high in February, the Canadian Real Estate Association reported on Monday. The average house price surged 25% from last year to a new high of $678,091, CREA’s figures show. At the […]

Housing Continued to Surge in February Today the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) released statistics showing national home sales hit another all-time high in February 2021. Canadian home sales increased a whopping 6.6% month-on-month (m-o-m), building on the largest winter housing boom in history. On a year-over-year (y-o-y) basis, existing home sales surged an amazing 39.2%. As the […]

Easing Restrictions Ignite Canadian Job Market In February This morning, Statistics Canada released the February 2021 Labour Force Survey showing much stronger-than-expected job growth. The early days of the latest easing in COVID restrictions reinvigorated the labour market. Economists were pleasantly surprised by the rapid rebound. To be sure, there remain risks to the outlook, a […]

Bank of Canada Still Sees Low Rates Until 2023; Financial Markets Disagree The Bank of Canada delivered welcome news for variable-rate mortgage holders today when it stood by its expectation of no rate hikes until early 2023. “We remain committed to holding the policy interest rate at the effective lower bound until economic slack is […]

Bank of Canada Holds Policy Rate at 0.25% and Maintains QE Program At Current Pace. Bank of Canada Holds Rates and Bond-Buying Steady Much has changed since the Bank of Canada’s last decision on January 20. While the second pandemic wave was raging, new lockdowns were implemented in late 2020, and there were fears that […]

Mortgages Lead Credit Growth as Delinquency Rates Decline Mortgage credit grew in the fourth quarter of 2020 as Canadian consumers took steps to reduce all other forms of debt, according to new data from TransUnion. The credit agency’s Q4 Industry Insights Report showed mortgage credit grew 5.6% year-over-year, while the average balance of mortgage loans outstanding rose […]

Canadian Economy Ended 2020 On An Extremely Upbeat Note. Strong Canadian Economic Growth in Q4 and January This morning’s Stats Canada release showed that economic growth in the final quarter of last year was a surprisingly strong 9.6% (annualized). The surge in growth in January was even more interesting, estimated at a 0.5% (not annualized) pace. […]

Market Interest Rates are Rising Almost Everywhere. Longer-Term Yields are Rising Despite Central Bank Inaction While central banks hold overnight rates at record lows, anchoring short-term interest rates and the prime rate, mid-to-long-term government yields have been rising since early this month. As the chart below shows, the 5-year Government of Canada bond, upon which mortgage […]