Spending more time at home has led to Canadians taking on more and more mortgage debt despite the ongoing pandemic. Borrowers have tried to keep up with a housing market that took off in the latter half of 2020 and has yet to slow down. Statistics Canada recently said that household mortgage debt increased 7.4%…
Heavy restrictions are making it difficult for people to make life changing decisions such as buying a house this winter. However, if you’re a qualified buyer, you could definitely consider it! Canadians will be spending more time at home this 2021 winter – living, working, studying, playing, working out, and so on. Is there really…
The Bank of Canada has started the new year announcing that it has left its target overnight benchmark rate unchanged at 0.25%. As a result, the Bank Rate stays at 0.5% and the knock-on effect is that borrowing costs for Canadians will remain low for the foreseeable future. Prior to the announcement, there was…
At the end of 2020, the CREA released its latest resale housing market forecast, which revealed that — despite turbulent spring months — homebuyers are on track to set a record for the last calendar yesr, with some 544,413 homes projected to change hands by December 31, an 11.1% increase from 2019 levels. Subsequently, the national…
Canada’s housing market was full of surprises this year. The average house price has risen 17% despite numerous predictions that prices would decline. Near the beginning of the pandemic, the CMHC predicted that house prices would decline 9% to 18%. However, exactly the opposite has actually happened! The experts may have been proven wrong, or…
The mortgage deferral rate is on the decline according to the CMHC. In their quarterly financial report released November 27, the CMHC reported it had deferrals on 5% of its entire portfolio of insured mortgages since September 30. That’s a decline from approximately 8% in August. The active mortgage deferral rates as of September 30 was 4%…
There may be uncertainty in the future for our country’s real estate market, but young Canadians are undeterred and remain optimistic about the prospect of buying a home. Nearly 1 in 5 Canadians aged 18-34 say the pandemic has accelerated their plans to purchase a home or investment property, according to a recent Scotiabank survey. The…
The Bank of Canada is ending one of its emergency measures to stimulate the COVID-19 economy, leading to speculation that the era of record-low mortgage rates could be ending, too. What’s more likely, mortgage experts say, is that the central bank’s decision to stop buying Canada Mortgage Bonds on Oct. 26 will usher in a…
Buying a home is probably the biggest purchase you’ll ever make. Like most people, it’s unlikely you’ll pay in cash—you’ll borrow most of the money through a mortgage. Over the life of that mortgage, you’ll pay a lot in interest. Small changes in this interest can make a big difference in how much you’ll pay…
Almost 1 million existing loans have been deferred; more loans are still being taken out. More than 3/4 of a million Canadian homeowners have either deferred or skipped a mortgage payment during the COVID-19 pandemic began, to the tune of about $1 billion a month, Canada’s national housing agency says. In a report on Thursday,…
