Tag Archives: interest-rates

How Much Is Our Interest Rate After Bank of Canada’s January, 2025 Interest Rate Cut?

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The Bank of Canada has reduced the interest rate to 3%. This means the Bank of Canada’s rate is now 3%. However, the Bank of Canada only lends to banks, not to individuals. Therefore, there is the Commercial Bank Prime Rate, and banks set their rates based on the Bank of Canada’s rate. As a result, the Commercial Bank Prime Rate is now 5.2%. The Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) rate ranges between 5.2% and 5.7%. If you are paying more than 5.7%, you can negotiate with your bank to lower the rate.

Variable rates are available at a discount of 0.65% to 1.15% from the Bank Prime Rate. These rates range from 4.05% to 4.55%. The advantage of variable rates is that the penalty is only 3 months’ interest.

Fixed rates have also decreased. The 5-year fixed rate is between 3.99% and 4.24%, while the 3-year fixed rate is between 4.04% and 4.19%. These rates are available for renewals, transfers, and refinancing.

So, go to the market, negotiate the rates, and try to lower them. If you have received a renewal notice, you can reduce the rates. Negotiate with your bank, try to lower the rates, and if necessary, even threaten to leave the bank. This is important to do.

Interest Hikes and Housing Bubble Burst

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Another reason for housing bubble or housing crisis is interest rate hikes. If interest rates are low, housing bubbles often get even bigger. At lower rates people can buy larger mortgages, increasing demand and driving up prices. Buyers may take out risky loans, ignoring warning signs like rising interest rates or a shrinking economy. And then there’s the herd mentality. People see big money being made in the real estate market and so do other people. A real estate shopping frenzy ensues. When people are in a bubble they think the market will never change! For example, when the Bank of Canada cut interest rates during Covid in 2020, house prices skyrocketed by May 2022.

When there is too much inflation and house prices are too high, it needs to be controlled to cool down inflation and the housing market. The Bank of Canada raised interest rates in July 2017 for the first time in seven years, slowing the housing market as Canada’s biggest banks raised interest rates. And, the biggest interest increase comes in 2023. The Bank of Canada raised interest rates by 100 basis points in 2023 to curb inflation, the largest increase since 1998. The governor of the Bank of Canada said the increase was necessary to prevent high inflation from stifling. The governor had said that the interest rate will be reduced to 2 percent. On the other hand, according to economists, it was a gamble by the Bank of Canada, that inflation had factors other than the housing market (such as the war in Ukraine, supply chain issues and so on) that were beyond the Bank of Canada’s control. According to economists, this would certainly reduce inflation but not immediately. Whether or not it controlled the price of food, oil, it certainly controlled the housing market. The rising rates certainly affected those who took out mortgages for home purchases and took out new loans. According to economists, this would certainly reduce inflation but not immediately. Whether or not it controlled the price of food, oil, it certainly controlled the housing market. The rising rates certainly affected those who took out mortgages for home purchases and took out new loans. We can see that when the Bank of Canada starts raising interest rates from July 2022 and home prices start to cool. Yes, interest rate hikes in 2022 and 2023 have certainly cooled the market, although they have not burst the housing bubble. If interest rates rise sharply, it can become more expensive to get a mortgage, which can reduce demand for houses and condos. Now people are not ready to go to the real estate market! Yes, the housing market has definitely cooled but not cracked yet! The housing bubble has yet to burst and a housing crisis could happen at any time. (My next post will be on another mortgage loan!)

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Easing of Inflation and Canadian Housing Market

“If inflation continues to ease, and our confidence that inflation is headed sustainably to the 2-per-cent target continues to increase, it is reasonable to expect further cuts to our policy interest rate. But we are taking our interest rate decisions one meeting at a time.” Mr. Macklem said. The Bank of Canada is the first G7 central bank to start easing monetary policy. The European Central Bank is expected to follow suit on Thursday, while the U.S. Federal Reserve, which is dealing with a stronger economy and more stubborn inflation, is expected to hold off rate cuts until later in the year. 

The next meeting is on July 24, six weeks from now. This interest rate cut is like “finally, the interest rate is not going to increase.” Nothing more than that.  Looks like this rate cut is not going to bring any momentum in a near future. Since the current inventory dictates price of a house for at least 90 days, there is more than enough inventory in the GTA housing market. Based on the current listing, free hold market may go up whereas condo market will stay same or go down until the current inventory is cleared up since there is too much inventory in the condo market.