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 […]

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 […]