With the arrival of the new year comes a new round of predictions about what is ahead for interest rates, mortgages and real estate. Generally, the mood among realtors is up-beat.  The Canadian Real Estate Association has tempered its forecasts but continues to forecast increases for sales and home prices through 2025.  CREA expects an […]

VANCOUVER (December 11, 2024) – The Canadian Mortgage Brokers Association – British Columbia (CMBA-BC) is welcoming today’s announcement by Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem to cut the key overnight rate by 50 basis points —from 3.75 per cent to 3.25 per cent. The central bank is also signalling that further rate reductions may be […]

With inflation deemed to be under control the Bank of Canada is focusing on other factors as it determines its interest rate policy. A major one of those is economic growth, or Gross Domestic Product.  GDP is the value of all goods and services produced by the economy. The latest numbers from Statistics Canada show […]

The October inflation report caused a minor commotion but it does not appear to have upset things enough to see the Bank of Canada change course. Statistics Canada reports headline inflation, also known as the Consumer Price Index, rose to 2.0%, on a year-over-year basis, up from 1.6% in September.  An increase was expected, but […]

The re-election of Donald Trump as president of the United States will have economic and social repercussions in Canada. There was an, almost, immediate reaction to the re-election in the bond market which drives fixed-rate mortgage pricing.  Yields jumped triggering rate increases by some lenders. In the days after the election, the yield on 10-year […]

The Bank of Canada’s larger-than-normal interest rate cut last month has a lot of market watchers looking for more of the same.  Most of the well-known economists are forecasting another 50 basis point cut at the setting in December. That would drop the central bank’s trend setting Policy Rate to 3.25%, which many analysts see […]

VANCOUVER (October 23, 2024) – The Canadian Mortgage Brokers Association – British Columbia (CMBA-BC) welcomes today’s announcement by the Governor of the Bank of Canada Tiff Macklem that the Bank of Canada will substantially cut its key overnight rate by 50 basis points from 4.25 per cent to 3.75 per cent. This decision follows rate […]

High hopes for a big, 50 basis point, rate cut by the Bank of Canada later this month have dimmed.  A strong jobs report for September has several analysts pulling back their forecasts.  They are now saying a, more traditional, 25 basis point cut is most likely. Statistics Canada’s September employment report shows the economy […]

Conditions seem ripe for a big, 50-point, interest rate cut by the Bank of Canada at its next setting later this month.  But the federal banking regulator has confirmed it will be providing, more direct, mortgage relief. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) says it is going to end the stress test […]

Feds also expand access to 30-year amortizations The federal government is raising the cap on insured mortgages to $1.5 million and expanding access to extended mortgage amortization periods, a bid to tackle a housing affordability crisis that’s put home ownership out of reach of scores of Canadians. Finance minister Chrystia Freeland said on Monday that […]