February 8th, 2022 Mortgage Industry Update
The Bank of Canada announced on January 26th that its overnight lending rate will remain at 0.25%. The prime rate remains 2.45%. The Bank of Canada suggests that they will more than likely raise interest rates sometime this year to tackle higher than anticipated inflation rates.
Additionally this week:
– Urbanation: New condo sales in the GTA totalled 30,844 units in 2021, an eye-popping 69% increase from 2020. This narrowly missed the previous all-time sales record of 31,216 units in 2017. Q4 sales were up 77% yearly with 8,361 condos sold – a new record for the quarter.
– Bank of Canada: Median age of first-time homebuyers in Canada was 36 years, compared to the roughly 50 years among investors and repeat buyers. First-time buyers also remain the largest home purchaser group in Canada, representing fully 50% of residential transactions since 2014.
– RBC forecasts 579,600 existing homes will be sold this year. Down 13.1% from the record 667,000 transitions in 2021, but it’s still second highest number in history. Project Canada’s benchmark price to rise 6.2% in 2022, or nearly a third of the record rate of 17.8% last year.
– Statistics Canada: The economy stalled in December as the nation got hit with fresh lockdowns, though the slowdown wasn’t enough to prevent a strong finish for 2021. GDP was little changed during the month. Overall for Q4, preliminary estimates show the economy grew by 1.6%.
– BILD: New condo sales far outstripped single-family home transactions in 2021. 32,919 condo apartments sold last year; was 40% above 10-year average and only 125 units short of 2017 record. Benchmark price of condos rose 13.5% year-over-year in December to $1.16 million.
– BILD: Price of a new construction single-family home in the Toronto region soared 38.5% yearly in December to a record $1.8 million. The year saw the most new home sales since 2002 and inventory levels of single-family homes hit a new 12-year low of 776 by year’s end.
– TD Bank: Average home price in Toronto in December is only 4% below the average in Vancouver, the smallest gap since 1991. Comes after a years-long trend of accelerating house price gains in Canada’s biggest city (up 40% since 2018), outpacing those in Vancouver (up only 13%).
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.
