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The Bank of Canada announced on January 28th that its overnight rate will remain at 2.25%. After a strong Q3, GDP growth in Q4 likely stalled. Economic growth is projected to be modest in near term. Expects inflation to stay close to 2% target over the projection period. The prime rate remains at 4.45%.

Additionally this week:

– Statistics Canada: Economy shed 84k jobs and the unemployment rate rose to 6.7% last month. Losses concentrated in full‑time and private‑sector positions and driven by youth and core‑age men. Setback followed 25k decline in January and effectively erased most of last fall’s gains.

– Statistics Canada: Overall building permit values climbed 4.8% annually to $13.3 billion in January, one of the highest levels on record. Residential permit values climbed 1.8% to $8.0 billion in January, but fell 9.4% from last year.

– CMHC: Housing construction rose 6% yearly in 2025 to 259,000 units, with activity exceeding 10 year average across most major markets. Toronto was lone exception. Rentals drove overall new housing supply. Number of rental units under construction nearly doubling 10 year average.

– Urbanation: Toronto’s rental prices hovered at an average monthly rate of $2,482 in February, reflecting a 5.3 per cent decline from the same time in 2025. It is also 11.7 per cent lower than what the city’s rental market saw in 2024.

– Urbanation: Asking rents in Canada fell year-over-year for the 17th straight month in February to an average of $2,030. Average asking rents were down 2.8 per cent from February 2025, as prices also fell 1.3 per cent on a month-over-month basis.

– TRREB: 3,868 home sales in February, down 6.3% annually. New listings dropped even faster, falling 17.7% to 10,705. The MLS Home Price Index composite benchmark was 7.9% lower than in February 2025, while the average selling price slipped 7.1% to $1,008,968.

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.