10 April 2018

“In addition to it, we can see price conditions for mortgages also tightening, as the costs charged from customers went up together with mortgage rates.”

In this case, the BoC’s report could be a hint on what to expect later. Although the largest Canadian banks predict mortgage originations slowdown because of B-20, they say it’s too early to assess the real impact of the new rules. Last week, RBC president Dave McKay said it was still too soon.

“And while some institutions point to a decline in demand driven by the regulatory changes, others report applications gains received before the introduction of the B-20 changes and the forecasts of rate hikes”, – the poll shows.

Such results almost coincide with the central bank’s March report. When deciding to keep its key lending rate unchanged at 1.25% last month, the BoC pointed to certain signs of higher demand before the new mortgage guidelines and other policies were implemented. It also said the household credit growth had slowed down for the third month in a row at that moment.