September 17th, 2024 Mortgage Industry Update
The Bank of Canada announced on September 4th that its overnight lending rate will be cut to 4.25% from 4.50%! This marks the third back to back rate cut! Excess supply in the economy continues to put downward pressure on inflation, while price increases in shelter and other services are holding inflation up. The prime rate now decreases to 6.45%.
Additionally this week:
– Urbanation: Toronto average rents fell 7% to $2,697 for the seventh month of retreat in August. Asking rents up 3.3% from last year to $2,187. On a month-to-month basis, rents dipped slightly by 0.1%, continuing a trend of moderation observed since May.
– Transactions involving international buyers in the US totalled $42 billion from April 2023 to March 2024, down 21% annually. Number of properties bought by foreign buyers also dropped by 37%. Canadian buyers increased their overall market share to 13% of all foreign transactions.
– In the last three months, Canada’s economy has created one new job for every six workers who joined the labour force on net, the lowest rate in over a year. A stark deceleration from the start of year, when number of jobs was growing faster than the number of available workers.
– Statistics Canada: National unemployment rate rose by more than expected last month, spiking to 6.6%. Labour market added a net 22,100 jobs in August, below expectations of economists, with the unemployment rate coming in 0.1% higher than those observers had estimated.
– TRREB: 4,975 homes sold in August in GTA – 5.3% drop from 5,251 last year. Sales up 0.6% from July on seasonally adjusted basis. Average selling price was down 0.8% annually to $1,074,425. Composite benchmark price down 4.6% yearly. New listings totalled 12,547, up 1.5% annually.
– Re/Max’s 2024 Fall Housing Market Outlook: Average sale prices for all housing types expected to increase 1-6% in most regions by end of year. 16% of Canadians would feel more comfortable entering real estate market if BoC implements rate cut of more than 1% by end of year.
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.
