Mortgage rates have eased over the past few weeks. With the conflict in the Middle East settling down, energy prices have started to come back to earth — and the expectation is that inflation cools along with them. Bond yields have softened in response, and fixed mortgage rates have followed them down.
The Bank of Canada held its policy rate steady at its last meeting, and I’d expect more of the same for now. Barring a real surprise — such as inflation coming in well below target, unemployment climbing, or GDP rolling over — the Bank has little reason to move. In plain terms: rates look likely to hold near where they are through the summer.
On the housing side, the market here stays soft. Inventory is high and buyers are taking their time — which means more room to negotiate and less pressure to rush. If you’ve been waiting for a bit of leverage, this is closer to a buyer’s window than we’ve seen in a while. Today’s rates are below; reach out any time and I’ll run your numbers.
Mortgage rates started to ease with news of the war in the middle east winding down.
While we haven’t seen any major drops in the variable rate, we have some 3 year fixed rates which look very attractive.
Here’s a snapshot of some of our current rate specials. Keep in mind, existing deals already in the pipeline may or may not be able to be repriced. It depends on who your current lender is and if they allow float downs.
Call for your specific rate quote, it only takes me 10 to 15 minutes to sort out what your rate will be.
Pour a double-double, grab a butter tart, and bear with me — it’s Canada Day.
I grew up with a big love for this country. Calgary was an awesome place to grow up in and was hugely, Canada. Stampede Julys, bike rides around the reservoir, The Calgary Flames, the ’88 Calgary Winter Olympics, Heritage Park Summer Days. Canada Day concerts with bands like Sloan, 54-40, Our Lady Peace, and Matthew Good. John Candy, Mike Myers, and Martin Short movies.
Day trips out to Banff and Lake Louise. Driving from Calgary to Vancouver with Fully Completely and Day for Night on repeat.
The Tragically Hip are one of my favourite bands, and I always made an effort to go see them when they went out on tour, which was often. My final count was 15 shows before we lost dear Gordie.
One of the most memorable Hip shows was Rock the Shores 2012. It was looking like the headliners, the Hip, weren’t going to play due to the impending thunderstorm. It was very ominous, the clouds behind the stage were dark and stormy.
My friends and I decided to hightail it out of crowd as we felt more cautious and wanted to leave before any huge downpour or stampede of teenagers.
About 15 minutes later, we were sitting in the Wendy’s up the hill, when we heard the faint intro beat to “Grace Too”.
My friend and I took one look at each other and we just knew. The show was starting. We ran as fast as we could back down the hill to the Juan De Fuca field. Luckily, the lady at the front gate let us back in, and we made it back for that incredible Hip show.
Here’s a picture from that fateful night. What a rush.
Canada nostalgia aside, I have something to say that may be on everyone’s mind, but doesn’t want to bring up.
We all say we’re proud to be Canadian, but really, we haven’t done very much to protect some of the institutions that make us uniquely, Canadian.
Here’s a brief and non-exhaustive list of some truly Canadian things that we’ve lost, over time:
And one more punch to the gut, just this last week: Hockey Night In Canada on the CBC.
None of these vanished overnight. They slipped, a little at a time, while we weren’t looking.
I’m not saying that market forces shouldn’t win out, like they did in these situations. Good companies have to be profitable, no matter if they are a crown corporation, Canadian owned, or privately foreign owned.
What I am saying though, is maybe we have to have some more collective thinking and action before we let more of our Canadian institutions slip through our fingers.
When the “51st state” line gets thrown around, we of course get defensive. We feel like we have our own set of values, distinguishable from our southern neighbour. Which we do.
But an uncomfortable fact is how much we lean on that one neighbour. We sell roughly three-quarters of everything we export to the United States. Also, foreign-owned multinationals move more than half the value of those exports (US owned companies shipping from here to the US).
By the numbers:
That last one matters. This isn’t a country that got bought out from under us. It’s a country that got comfortable, and a little too dependent.
We’ve still got the identity in spades — the Mounties, the Rockies, the prairies, the Trans-Canada Highway (and the Trans Canada Highwaymen), a canoe and a quiet lake, the Group of Seven, Terry Fox, hockey, the Hip. That part’s rock solid, and nobody can buy it.
But look at where our dollars actually go, day to day. We shop on Amazon. We talk to each other on Meta. The easy default, every single time, is the big American option. Nobody took that from us — we hand it over, one default click at a time.
Question is, can we reverse this trend, and, do we even want to?
We have to admit: Canada looks and feels a lot less, “Canada owned”, and a lot more corporate-owned. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but let me pose an interesting question to you…..
I’ve done some mortgages lately for some Canada post workers. These people come out to our neighborhoods, deliver our mail, door by door, box by box. They’re one more positive person on our streets with a smiling faces, contributing good to our society.
Now our postal workers are in trouble, because, the mail just isn’t profitable anymore. We really should consider what we’re about to lose. Less smiling faces patrolling our neighborhoods. Postal workers losing their livelihoods because we aren’t prioritizing keeping something uniquely Canadian, Canadian.
Personally, I think we should be going back to the old ways and sending each other letters. Letters are permanent, they take time and care, and they’re intentional. I know however we can’t just start forcing people to write letters again, so maybe this whole thought is for naught.
Maybe I’m just rambling and lamenting that one more crown corporation is going to the wayside because it just wasn’t profitable enough, and I’m a bit crabby about it.
Maybe I’m also trying to say – go out and buy some stamps, and send your grandma, grandson, friend, or colleague, a letter.
So here’s my Canada Day ask. This next year, maybe we get a little more deliberate. Buy from the Canadian shop when there’s a Canadian shop to buy from. And let’s band together to hang onto a few of the institutions still worth saving — Canada Post, Hockey Night in Canada, the CBC. Not because any of them are perfect, but because they’re ours, and once they’re gone they don’t come back.
Let’s really make sure we don’t lose our public healthcare system. It is one way, our way, that we say, we do actually care for one another. A Canadian value.
Maybe Hudson’s Bay could eventually make a comeback. We know that Canadian Tire bought the rights to the Hudson’s Bay branding, and are featuring it in their stores. So maybe not all is lost, there.
We have the right in Canada to protest and to make our voices heard on issues that we feel passionately about. We have this right because we live in a free country with freedom of speech and the freedom to gather and protest.
Let’s not forget that it’s our Western way of life, and our western laws and democracy that allow us to be free without the threat of persecution. Let’s not lose sight of, and let’s be thankful for this privilege.
If you feel passionately enough to fly the flag of another nation and protest in our streets about it, be respectful about it. Remember, the only reason you can do that is because our country is a free country. Canada.
Let’s protect the thing that actually makes all of it work: each other. The one import from down south I’d happily ship back is the all-or-nothing, scorched-earth version of politics we see in our southern neighbour.
We’re allowed to disagree — on plenty — without deciding the other person is the enemy. We’re allowed to compromise. Compromise and understanding each other, and being able to disagree, and still live around each other, is the most Canadian thing going.
And let’s hang onto the good, weird stuff while we’re at it — holding the door, waving the other car through, apologizing to the guy who bumped into us. Saying sorry when we’ve done nothing wrong isn’t a flaw. It’s the whole personality. Let’s keep it.
So on Canada Day, let’s keep listening to each other. Let’s celebrate that we get to disagree out loud and still build something together.
Signing off for now,
David Steinberg
Canadian Born and Bred
250-858-7160
Your feedback is welcome!
I’m lucky have local realtors Adrian Maclaren and Vincent Baart have me as a regular on their podcast. This episode has some good stories and lots of useful information. Give it a listen or a watch!
Watch the Podcast On YouTube Here
Greater Victoria has 3,710 active listings and sellers are getting nervous. That’s a great time to buy — but a terrible time to sell. So how do you upgrade or downsize without giving away equity? Keep your existing property as a rental and time the sale for the next seller’s market.
Thank g-d I didn’t have any money invested in Bitcoin, myself. Yeesh. That stuff is way too risky. It’s a long one today. In summation, I’m going to talk about the tech bubble/stock bubble, what Tiff Macklem is actually saying to us, what’s going to happen when the bubble bursts, and finally, the kicker, what […]
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