May 17th, 2022 Mortgage Industry Update
The Bank of Canada announced on April 13th that its overnight lending rate will increase to 1.00% from 0.50%. The prime rate has increased to 3.20% from 2.70%. Canadian growth is strong and the economy is moving into excess demand. Labour markets are tight, and wage growth is back to its pre-pandemic pace. The Bank of Canada suggests that they will more than likely continue to raise interest rates over this year to tackle higher than anticipated inflation rates.
Additionally this week:
– Statistics Canada: Estimated 826,500 vacant job positions nationwide as of February, volume was 16.4% lower than record high of 988,300 reached in September 2021. Was 61.2% higher than levels seen immediately before pandemic. Placed job vacancy rate at 4.9% in February.
– HouseSigma: Detached GTA homes sold in April were selling for a median price of 12.1% less than in February; a drop from $1.65M to $1.45M. Semi-detached homes dropped 13.5% from $1.33M to $1.15M. The biggest drop was in freehold townhouses; 22.6% less – from $1.24M to $960,000.
– Statistics Canada: More than 92,000 dwellings in Toronto are not permanently occupied; 7.4% of all supply (increase from 5.6% in 2016). Toronto is home to a grand total of 1,253,238 private dwellings, but only 1,160,892 of those are considered occupied by “usual residents”.
– Statistics Canada: The country’s 7.8 million single-detached homes made up about 53% of Canada’s housing supply in 2021, down from roughly 54% during the 2016 census. Row houses experienced a slight uptick, rising from 6.3% of the housing supply in 2016 to 6.5% last year.
– BILD: The GTA’s new build condo benchmark price spiked by 17.7% year over year to reach a record high of nearly $1.253 million in March. The benchmark for new single-family housing grew by 27.3% yearly to end up at $1.838 million.
– BILD: A total of 4,115 new home sales took place in GTA in March, down 21% annually, up 12% than 10-year average for March. Condo sales fell by 7% annually (down to 3,277 transactions), and single-family home sales had an even more precipitous 50% decline (down to 838).
– Due to rising inflation, nearly six-in-ten Canadian investors (56 percent) have had to re-visit their investment strategy. Almost the same amount said they regret not starting to invest at an earlier age, according to a TD Wealth Survey.
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.
