October 23rd Mortgage Industry Update
October 23rd, 2018 Mortgage Industry Update
The Bank of Canada announced on September 5th that it’s overnight lending rate will remain at 1.50%. The prime rate thus remains 3.70%. Good news for variable rate mortgage holders as they can expect no changes to their rates! The common prediction currently stands at another rate increase for October’s meeting.
Additionally this week:
– B.C.’s finance minister has introduced legislation to move ahead with a speculation tax on vacant or underutilized properties. Tax ranges from 0.5% on secondary homes left vacant by B.C. residents, to 2% on foreign-owned properties.
– Zoocasa poll: 57% of homeowners felt growing even the legal amount of marijuana would hurt a home’s value. 26% disagreed, 18% neutral. 52% said they’d be less likely to consider buying a home if they knew any amount of cannabis had been grown inside.
– Toronto has tumbled to 137th place, out of 150 cities, in real estate consultancy Knight Frank’s residential cities index for Q2 2018, with a recording of 2.8% decline in housing prices. It had placed first a year earlier, with 29.3% year-on-year price growth.
– CREA: Home sales in September sank almost 9% from 2017 while the average price increased just 0.2% to $487,000. Fell 0.4% compared with August. The number of newly listed homes rose 3% between August and September.
– Marcus & Millichap: Logistics firms will play a major role in Toronto’s net absorption of roughly 10M square feet of industrial space until December. Predicted to bring industrial vacancy down to a record low of 2.2% by the end of 2018. Will follow a rate of 2.4% in Q2.
– OREA is making more than 3 dozen recommendations to the provincial government on how it should update the rules governing realtors, including allowing for a more open bidding process for buyers and sellers. Includes permitting realtors to disclose details about a competing offer.
Stay tuned for the next update!
For any questions and concerns please do not hesitate to call Harpreet Singh The Mortgage King at (416) 795-1919.
