The 2 million Canadians set to renew their mortgages soon will see only modest relief after the Bank of Canada slashed interest rates for the first time since March, with real estate experts also warning housing affordability will remain relatively unchanged.
Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem announced on Sept. 17 that it would lower rates from 2.75 percent to 2.5 percent because of a softening labour market, lowered inflation pressures, and less upside risk to inflation because of Ottawa removing retaliatory tariffs on the United States.
Daniel Foch, chief real estate officer at Valery.ca, said the rate cut announcement will bring “a little bit of relief” for Canadians with fixed-rate mortgages. Around 2 million fixed-rate mortgages are set to renew at the end of the year, and many of those are expected to renew at higher rates….