Stress Test Rate to Fall to 4.79% The stress test rate is about to fall for the second time in three months following cuts by Canada’s Big Six banks to their 5-year fixed posted rates. Mortgage experts say the Bank of Canada will reduce the benchmark qualifying rate—a.k.a., “stress test rate”—from 4.94% to 4.79% this […]

COVID-19 Stokes Canadian Homebuying Intentions: MPC Report The global pandemic may have brought the Canadian real estate sector to a near standstill this spring, but over the longer term it appears to have stoked homebuying intentions. Fourteen percent of current renters say they plan to purchase a home within the next 12 months, up from […]

Latest in Mortgage News: Toronto Home Prices Set July Record The rebound for Toronto home prices continued in July, with the average selling price reaching a record $943,710. That’s a 16.9% increase compared to a year earlier, according to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB). Home sales in the Greater Toronto Area were up 29.5% in […]

Latest in Mortgage News: Economic Slowdown Hitting Alternative Lenders Hard The COVID pandemic has taken a toll on many aspects of Canada’s mortgage industry, but none more so than private lenders, which have seen a 26% decline in Ontario mortgage registrations. According to Teranet, the province’s electronic land registry system, that decline follows a 45% […]

Bank of Canada Hints at No Interest Rate Hikes Until 2023 Prospective homebuyers were reassured today that interest rates will remain near historic lows “for a long time,” according to Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem. The BoC chief made the comments during a conference call following the Bank’s interest rate meeting, where it left […]

Canadian Real Estate Defies COVID, Sales up 63% in June National home sales shot up in June, with prices also climbing steadily, according to June data released today by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). Transactions were up about 15.2%, while the average property price was up 6.5% from June 2019 to $539,000. Excluding the country’s most […]

CANADIAN HOME SALES UP AGAIN IN JUNE Housing Market Continued Its Rebound in June and Early July There was more good news today on the housing front. Home sales rebounded by a further 63% in June, returning them to normal levels for the month–150% above where they were in April when the pandemic-induced lockdown paralyzed the […]

BANK OF CANADA HOLDS RATES STEADY AND CONTINUES QE PROGRAM Bank of Canada Holds Target Rate Steady Until Inflation Sustainably Hits 2% The Bank of Canada under the new governor, Tiff Macklem, wants to be “unusually clear” that interest rates will remain low for a very long time. To do that, they are using “forward […]

STRONG JUNE JOBS REPORT IN CANADA Robust Jobs Report in June, Much Better Than Expected The June Labour Force Survey, released this morning by Statistics Canada, reflects labour market conditions as of the week of June 14 to June 20. By that time, public health restrictions had been eased in most parts of the country. Tighter […]

FISCAL SNAPSHOT: MUCH LARGER DEFICIT AND DEBT THAN EXPECTED Astonishing Fiscal Red Ink Announced Today Finance Minister Bill Morneau presented his fiscal snapshot this afternoon. Most economists were expecting a budget deficit of roughly $260 billion. Instead, the government announced a deficit for the fiscal year 2020-21 of $343.2 billion–close to 16% of GDP. That […]