February 27th, 2024 Mortgage Industry Update
The Bank of Canada announced on January 24th that its overnight lending rate will remain at 5.00%. Bank of Canada maintains overnight rate at 5.00%! The Canadian economy has stalled since middle of 2023 and growth will likely remain close to zero through first quarter of 2024. Economy now looks to be operating in modest excess supply. The prime rate remains at 7.20%.
Additionally this week:
– NerdWallet Canada’s 2024 Canadian Home Buyer Report found 49 per cent of Canadians plan on buying a home within the next five years, though most appear willing to wait out the high interest rates, as only 11 per cent plan on buying in the next 12 months.
– Statistics Canada: National inflation rate slowed by more than expected in January, with index rising at an annual pace of 2.9% last month and ticking downwards from December. 3.3% was expected by economists in a Bloomberg survey, dropping from 3.4% the previous month.
– Urbanation has found that average asking rent for all types of properties in Canada reached record high in January 2024. Has increased by 10% yearly, rising to $2,196. Represented a 0.8% monthly rise, which caused the annual rate of rent growth to reach a four-month high.
– CREA showed home sales were up 3.7% last month over December, although prices ticked downward with the seasonally adjusted benchmark slipping by 1.2% to $717,800. Sales are still mired about 9% below the 10-year average. January marked the fifth month in a row that prices fell.
– Canadian Bankers Association: The arrears rate, which tracks mortgages that are behind payments by three months or more, was 0.17%, unchanged from October. That works out to just 8,560 mortgages in arrears out of a total of over 5.05 million.
– Statistics Canada: On net, 37,300 jobs were created last month, consisting of a gain of 48,900 part-time positions and a loss of 11,600 full-time jobs. The country’s unemployment rate ticked down 0.1 percentage point to 5.7%, marking the first decline since December 2022.
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.
