The Bank Of Canada held it’s 5 percent rate today. It was the 4^th consecutive hold. The difference between this month’s announcement and previous announcements was they didn’t suggest any future rate hikes might be necessary.

They went the opposite route and hinted at lower rates in the later half of the year. To me the language suggests the overnight rate will remain steady at 5% at least for the first 6 months which is the HOT season. 

The last time we saw rates remain steady for this long of a period they remained for almost two years.

So, although there is some good news that rates likely won’t be going up. I don’t see them dropping very much over the next 12 months. When rates do get dropped it is usually .25 points at a time. So you would likely need 4 drops to drop it 1 full percent. 

So if the plan is to hold rates for half the year then I suspect house prices to come down. There are a lot of homes on the market and the number of sales is down, this creates a buyers market.

With the rates still being high it still makes it difficult for first-time buyers to get into the market, but it is great time for people up-sizing to use the equity in their home to move up to a bigger home for way cheaper then they were two years ago. I have a lot of home owners with growing families taking advantage of this now. 

If you have any questions about how this all may affect your 2024 Real Estate Strategy, feel free to contact me and schedule a free strategy session.

The next announcement is March 6^th then April 10^th.

Have a great day!