News, Views and Trends!
It’s not everyday you get to sit on a video call with someone who used to run our country’s central bank. So when I was invited to be a part of a remote session with former BoC Governor Stephen Poloz, I made sure to take down as much as I could to share with you. Here’s what he thinks about inflation, interest rates, and what’s happening in Canada.
Continue reading “Exclusive Insights From a Former Bank of Canada Governor”
There’s one reason and one reason only that rates have skyrocketed by 4.25% in less than 10 months: inflation. The Bank of Canada has made it their mandate to bring inflation down to 2% – a far cry from the peak at 5.9%. Their plan is to jack up rates so that people will have less disposable income. The idea is that less disposable income will lead to less personal spending. Less personal spending will lead to lower demand for goods. Lower demand for goods will eventually lead to lower prices on those goods.
Essentially, for this plan to work, Canadians need to spend less money. It’s as simple as that. So why in the world does the Prime Minister keep giving Canadians more money to spend?
Continue reading “Free Money Will Cost Canadians”
I started CanadaMortgageNews.ca in 2009 with one goal: to dispel misinformation. A lot of mortgage “experts” were coming onto the scene at the time with outrageous claims and getting quoted by media outlets. They were all great writers, no doubt. The problem was a lot of what they were saying just wasn’t adding up.
Continue reading “Some Things Never Change: What We Can Learn From the Past”
The last few months have been tough to say the least. Variable rates are at their highest levels in 20 years. The prime rate has gone up 4.25% in less than 12 months. Every Bank of Canada announcement feels like it could be another 50 point jump. If you’re a homeowner, it’s seemingly never ending. The news certainly doesn’t help you feel otherwise. But if you take a look at what’s happened in the past, you’ll see that the time we’re in isn’t so unprecedented. We’ve been here before and we’ve gotten out of it – and I believe we’re doing it all over again.
Continue reading “Is This the End of Rate Hikes?”
To start off, a bit of good news for once: the average 5-year fixed rate mortgage has fallen over the last two months. Some qualified borrowers are now able to secure a rate as low as 4.89%. But of course, it is good news, so you probably didn’t see it reported in the mainstream media.
Here’s what you likely did see: the overnight rate went up by yet another 0.50% on December 7 to 4.25%. Another staggering increase at a time when most experts predicted rates would start levelling out. Not only is this rate hike significant – it’s actually record-breaking. A whopping 4.00% increase in just 9 months took us from some of the lowest rates of this century to the highest.
Continue reading “A Stand-Off Between the Bank of Canada and the Government of Canada”
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