6 October 2010

Canada’s housing market recovery started to stall in the middle of 2010. The reasons were various: pent-up demand, tightening of the mortgage rules, the implementation of HST etc. The high sales pace provoked a high level of household debt – actually, the debt-to-income ratio rose to an all-time high in the first quarter.
The rates are likely to rise in the beginning of 2011
The general economic situation hasn’t changed greatly during this month, so the forecasts are still the same – in the second half of 2011 the BoС will gradually raise the overnight rate to 2.25% (today’s rate is 1%).