Spring
is nearly here, in Toronto at least, (sorry Halifax) the snow is fast
disappearing and while the weather has graced us with a couple of warm
days we are at least seeing longer days. I love the sunshine. Maple
season is here for those heading out to the sugar bush events and houses
are being listed and sold at a searing pace, with the first 2 weeks of
March seeing 3,838 sales through MLS, an 11.8% increase over this time
last year.
The Bank of Canada has held rates down and while banks did finally drop their prime rates, 15 bps, they did not match the 25 bps the Bank of Canada announced in January. This has still been great for variable rate borrowers.
As ever the pundits are calling for the rates to stay low and to go up. While the US economy is doing well, places like Brazil and India have less momentum than they did, and if we can get around the official numbers it looks like China is slowing down more than the world had hoped.
The spillover effect of the sanctions imposed on Russia for their acts of hubris are hurting Germany, the engine of Europe, so this is going to be a lose-lose on the sanctions game, but since no one wants war with Russia and they still want to take a moral stance I guess there is still a price to be paid.
Canada is now more than ever a petro-dollar economy and so we will probably not see our dollar go back up anytime soon, the hope that other sectors would pick up has not proved as successful at offsetting the declines due to oil, as had been hoped, so the dollar is low, rates are low and in some sectors jobs are being lost. This does not suggest that we will see rate increases any time soon.
An average single detached house price in Toronto is now $1 million, a nice milestone to keep the news hounds happy, but what does this mean. A few things, 1) cheap financing 2) there is a LOT of money in Toronto, 3) people keep coming to Toronto and 4) land is finite. Developers, are now seeing the writing on the wall and are starting to invest in rental housing, they see that the long term prospects of owning a home will be further diminished as the wealth divide increases and more people will rent.
This means 2 things for the some people 1) it is a good time to invest in buying rental properties and 2) house prices are not likely to drop too much even when rates increase.
Our personal (non-mortgage) debt levels keep rising, but we seem to be managing. The government has not jumped on the banks for dropping their lending rates on mortgages this time, and Harper has indicated that they "are not planning to take any immediate action." This is good news for the real estate sector.
On a side note I have yet to see a news story where banks are dropping their credit card interest rates, but then those are not underwritten by government insurance and somehow they keep it out of the news.
Something always happens, at the moment though I do not think it will be much.
I
do not think there should be a mad rush to buy just because of the
current interest rates, while they may rise and fall a bit we are still
in crazy low territory, so take your time and buy what you want when you
can.The Bank of Canada has held rates down and while banks did finally drop their prime rates, 15 bps, they did not match the 25 bps the Bank of Canada announced in January. This has still been great for variable rate borrowers.
As ever the pundits are calling for the rates to stay low and to go up. While the US economy is doing well, places like Brazil and India have less momentum than they did, and if we can get around the official numbers it looks like China is slowing down more than the world had hoped.
The spillover effect of the sanctions imposed on Russia for their acts of hubris are hurting Germany, the engine of Europe, so this is going to be a lose-lose on the sanctions game, but since no one wants war with Russia and they still want to take a moral stance I guess there is still a price to be paid.
Canada is now more than ever a petro-dollar economy and so we will probably not see our dollar go back up anytime soon, the hope that other sectors would pick up has not proved as successful at offsetting the declines due to oil, as had been hoped, so the dollar is low, rates are low and in some sectors jobs are being lost. This does not suggest that we will see rate increases any time soon.
An average single detached house price in Toronto is now $1 million, a nice milestone to keep the news hounds happy, but what does this mean. A few things, 1) cheap financing 2) there is a LOT of money in Toronto, 3) people keep coming to Toronto and 4) land is finite. Developers, are now seeing the writing on the wall and are starting to invest in rental housing, they see that the long term prospects of owning a home will be further diminished as the wealth divide increases and more people will rent.
This means 2 things for the some people 1) it is a good time to invest in buying rental properties and 2) house prices are not likely to drop too much even when rates increase.
Our personal (non-mortgage) debt levels keep rising, but we seem to be managing. The government has not jumped on the banks for dropping their lending rates on mortgages this time, and Harper has indicated that they "are not planning to take any immediate action." This is good news for the real estate sector.
On a side note I have yet to see a news story where banks are dropping their credit card interest rates, but then those are not underwritten by government insurance and somehow they keep it out of the news.
Something always happens, at the moment though I do not think it will be much.
When you or someone you know is ready to buy, refinance or renew give me a call I will always work to get you a great deal and take advantage of the battle of the lenders to make sure you get the RIGHT mortgage at a GREAT Rate. More often than not I can get you something better than most people can find on their own.
All the best.
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