Found 56 blog entries tagged as interest rates.

A year ago, housing affordability dominated national conversations as the Canadian real estate market exploded in growth, across major urban centres and rural communities alike.

For the last couple of months, it seems like this discussion has shifted, with affordability taking a back seat given recent moderation in the market following the unprecedented “COVID boom.”

The average price for a home in Canada was sold for about $630,000 in July, recent data from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) confirm. This is down five per cent from the same time a year ago. When the red-hot markets of Toronto and Vancouver are removed from the equation, the typical price for a residential property falls to roughly $525,000.

Despite the last several…

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What the Bank of Canada’s Interest Rate Hikes Mean for Homeowners

In 2022, the Bank of Canada (BoC) has been raising interest rates at the fastest and most significant pace since 1998. In July, the organization increased the benchmark rate to 2.5 per cent for the first time since 2009, when the global economy was coming out of the financial crisis. Here’s what the Bank of Canada’s interest rate hikes mean for homeowners.

The central bank is trying to bust inflation, with the consumer price index (CPI) hovering around eight per cent. The Canadian economy has not witnessed inflation this high since the early 1990s, driven by a wide range of factors, from expansionary pandemic-era fiscal policy to surging commodity prices.

While inflation has eased this summer on the back of falling crude…

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The red-hot Canadian real estate market is finally cooling down thanks to higher interest rates, and is poised to experience some stabilization after the unprecedented boom of the last two years. Is this a terrific opportunity for households looking to purchase a home, or is ownership still out of reach for many Canadian families?

Canada’s housing sector had been electric throughout the coronavirus pandemic, from skyrocketing real estate valuations to exceptional sales activity. It isn’t easy to find another comparable period in the Canada’s history or perhaps envision another span like it in the future – although markets are cyclical.

But while many Canadian families established generational wealth throughout the COVID-19 public health crisis,…

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housing shortage affordability crisis

Is Canada’s housing affordability crisis as bad as it was a year ago? No.

Is Canada’s housing affordability crisis still ongoing? Yes.

The talk of affordability has dissipated in recent months as prices continue slipping from their peak earlier this year. Many financial institutions are anticipating declining prices heading into the new year, with projections as deep as 25 per cent.

While this is a considerable drop in home valuations, prices are expected to remain above the pre-pandemic levels. This is especially true in many major urban centres, such as Toronto and Vancouver.

RBC published its latest housing affordability report that confirmed the situation has not been this bad since the early 1990s. The…

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Building credit history professional advice

It only takes a few bad decisions or a few months of hard times before your credit score plummets, and once it’s low, it can be very difficult to build it back up. Sometimes it isn’t enough to just make payments on time, and you might need a little help with building your credit history.

An easy way to help build up your credit score is by incorporating rent payments into the calculation. Several programs are available that use your regular monthly rental payments to help increase your credit score, so you can enjoy the benefits that go with that.

Let’s learn a bit more about why building credit history is important and how these programs work in conjunction with your credit history to increase your score.

The Benefits…

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Candian real estate news

We’ve all heard the hype: Canadian real estate is facing the deepest market correction in the last 40 years. But this isn’t the first time that experts have forecast corrections or crashes, none of which have materialized in recent history. So, let’s read between the headlines and examine some facts.

“Canadian real estate prices are dropping.”

More accurately, prices are plateauing from the meteoric rise we experienced throughout 2021 and in early 2022. According to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), the MLS Home Price Index edged down 1.7 per cent month-over-month in July, but it was still up 10.9 per cent year-over-year. While we have seen some easing in prices, the sky is nowhere near falling. In fact, there…

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You want to buy a cottage, but can you afford a cottage? At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, cottages became hot commodities across the country and prices skyrocketed. Traditionally, these properties were considered recreational by nature, visited on weekends during the summer or for seasonal maintenance by winter.

But why can’t you live in your waterfront cottage all year long? This was the question many households had during the pandemic. When they had their answer from employers by way of remote work, they packed up their things and relocated to the likes of Muskoka, the Kawarthas and Haliburton, to buy one of the many beautiful cabins, chalets and cottages in the region.

Now that the Canadian economy is reopening, offices are opening…

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Toronto Canadian housing market

Has the pendulum in the Canadian housing market tilted toward homebuyers? This is the current debate unfolding among market analysts, real estate agents, homebuyers and sellers.

The research arm of Goldman Sachs recently dropped a bombshell of a forecast: Canadian real estate will witness the sharpest drop in the global economic downturn.

“The pandemic-induced housing boom appears to be cooling off,” the Wall Street titan wrote. “From Toronto to Auckland, a slowdown in the housing market is underway as interest rates in developed economies are set to climb rapidly.”

Indeed, it is a reasonable conversation to have after seeing some of the latest numbers being reported in the Canadian housing market, as the central…

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Most affordable Canadian real estate markets_Saskatoon

Despite recent cooling in Canadian real estate markets due to rising interest rates, the fact remains that housing prices are still hovering at a high, relatively speaking. Add to this the record-high inflation rate, which reached 8.1 per cent in June, up from 7.7 per cent in May, and there’s no arguing that housing affordability in Canada has taken a big hit. While this is particularly true in major markets such as Toronto and Vancouver, as well as their suburbs, there’s still affordable housing to be found in Canada – and Canadians are willing to relocate to find it.

RE/MAX Canada’s 2022 Housing Affordability Report analyzed 24 major housing markets across the country (for Quebec market insights, please visit RE/MAX…

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Bank of Canada Interest Rate Announcement: Supersized Rate Hike of 100 Basis Points on July 13

The Bank of Canada was widely expected to make an increase in this morning’s interest rate announcement, but the central bank surprised everyone with a supersized hike of 100 basis points, bringing its target for the overnight rate up to 2.5 per cent. This is the Bank’s biggest move since 1998, and the fourth in a series of increases expected for 2022 as the Bank tries to tamp down the soaring inflation rate. Inflation is expected to hover around eight per cent for the next few months – well above the Bank’s two-per-cent target.

  1. What is the Bank of Canada’s current policy interest rate?
  2. When does the Bank of Canada announce its overnight rate?

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