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March 26th, 2019 Mortgage Industry Update

The Bank of Canada announced on March 6th that it’s overnight lending rate will remain at 1.75%. The prime rate remains 3.95%. The common prediction currently stands at the Bank of Canada might either keep rates still for 2019, or the potential for one further increase.

Additionally this week:
– Sotheby’s International Realty Canada Report: In the first two months of this year sales of Toronto homes priced between $2–4 million dropped 21 percent compared to the same period in 2018. For homes priced above $4 million, the decline was a sharper 29 percent.

– CREA predicting national home sales activity this year to fall to its lowest levels since 2010; sales will contract by 1.6% to 450,400 transactions. Activity in 2020 is projected to slightly recover with a 2% gain to reach 459,400 sales.

– JLL Report: Canada saw its second-highest year of total real estate investment in 2018, with more than $34B in overall trades. Canada’s industrial CRE sector was responsible for more than $8B in sales. Best-performing market was Toronto, accounting for $13.2B in total sales.

– Zoocasa Poll: Ehile most (82%) of the country’s residents say the issue of housing affordability is negatively impacting Canadians, 55% said government policy intervention isn’t enough to fix the problem. Only 15% said changes to the stress test rules would be the most helpful.

– Statistics Canada: Amount Canadians owe relative to their income ticked higher in Q4 2018 as growth in debt slightly outpaced income growth. Ratio increased to 178.5%, compared with a revised reading of 178.3% in the third quarter.

– Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index: Canadian home prices fell 0.4% in February from January for the 5th straight month. Prices fell in 9 of 11 markets. Largest decline for February in 19 years of index history, except for 2009.

 
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.