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 […]

People hoping for more interest rate cuts from the Bank of Canada have been getting some good news. On Friday the Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, announced the American central bank is ready to start trimming its policy rate and he hinted several cuts could be coming. “The direction of travel is […]

A consistent concern as the Bank of Canada embarks on its interest rate cutting cycle has been what will happen to home prices.  There have been persistent fears that prices will spike as rates fall, effectively stalling efforts to bring down inflation.  The Bank of Canada, however, is not overly worried about it, according to […]

Effective August 1st, 2024, the Department of Finance will now allow homeowners purchasing a newly built property and who meet First Time Home Buyer (FTHB) criteria, the option of a 30 year amortization for insured mortgages. At least one borrower to be a FTHB, defined as below: The borrower has never purchased a home before; […]

Canada’s latest employment numbers are widely seen as supporting more interest rate cuts by the Bank of Canada. The economy shed 1,400 jobs in June and the unemployment rate rose to 6.4%, up 0.2% from May.  The loss of about 3,000 full-time jobs was somewhat offset by the addition of about 2,000 part-time positions.  Economists […]

The spring home buying season never really blossomed this year. May figures from the Canadian Real Estate Association suggest buyers and sellers have been taking a “wait and see” stance. Sales in May dipped 0.6% from April and are down 5.9% from a year earlier. Prices dropped 4.0% year-over-year leaving the national average home price […]

We are pleased to inform you that today the Bank of Canada reduced its target for the overnight rate by 25 basis points to 4.75 per cent. This is the first interest rate cut since the tightening cycle began in March 2022. Although there will likely be no significant changes to fixed mortgage rates in […]

The last significant economic report before this week’s Bank of Canada interest rate announcement is in.  It effectively knocks down the last barrier to a, much hoped for, rate cut. Gross domestic product – the value of all goods and services produced by the economy – for the 1st quarter of this year grew by […]

The latest Statistics Canada inflation numbers have brought some more good news for consumers and anyone looking for interest rate relief. The annualized rate of inflation in April dipped again, falling to a three-year low of 2.7%, down from 2.9% in March. Two key components in the inflation calculation saw slowdowns last month: shelter costs, […]

The spring home-buying season is off to a soft start.  The latest figures from the Canadian Real Estate Association show both sales and prices dipped, while inventories rose in April. The numbers suggest a move toward better stability in Canada’s notoriously unhinged real estate market, and a move away from seller dominance. April sales slipped […]