This week's newsletter is written by Ron Nurwisah who prefers actual hikes to rate hikes.
They finally did it. After seven years, the Bank of Canada raised its rates to 0.75%. So what now?
HuffPost Canada business editor Daniel Tencer outlined what the rate hike could mean for most Canadians. If you're carrying debt in the form of variable-rate mortgages or lines of credit, the next few weeks would be a good time to review your finances to make sure that the new rates won't stretch your budget.
Some experts think that the rate hikes likely won't be the last, with a few predicting that the BoC could bump its rates to 1.5% by 2018. If this happens, then many more Canadians who find themselves already stretched with debt payments could find themselves in real trouble.
As for the housing market as a whole, higher interest rates will be another splash of water on the country's hotter housing markets. Royal LePage, one of Canada's biggest real estate companies, is predicting a softer market for the rest of 2017. "I believe what we'll see (in Toronto) is modest price increases but fewer homes being sold — not as a violent as the Vancouver correction where we saw 40 to 50 per cent of the transactions disappear," Royal LePage CEO Phil Soper told the Toronto Star.
— Ron Nurwisah
Have any comments, questions, or stories to share about Canada's wild and woolly housing market? Share them with us.
Want The Home Stretch sent to your inbox weekly? Sign up here.
On HuffPost Canada
Newly released data from the Ontario government shows half of real estate transactions involving a foreign buyer in the Greater Golden Horseshoe region took place in Toronto the month after the province introduced a new tax on non-residents.
A majority of Canadians say there's a housing bubble, but only a minority believes it will burst in the next year, a new survey has found.
Neighbouring Reads
China's Whack-a-mole Housing Crisis (Citylab)
How To Make Vertical Living More Family Friendly (Citylab)
10 Amazing Converted Homes (Curbed)
It's Harder Out There For Toronto Renters: Report (Toronto Star)
China Has 400,000 People Fighting Money Laundering (Better Dwelling)
Canada Has Twice As Many Vacant Homes As The U.S. Did Before The Crash (Better Dwelling)
Quoted
"It's an obligation to buy your kids a house. It's a tradition. If we wait until the children are grown up and let them buy a house, think of how expensive it will be!"
— Yu Ying, Chinese mother and business owner
Like This?
Get The Home Stretch, our weekly digest of news and analysis on Canada's housing market, sent to your inbox.