BUYERS FORGOING HOME INSPECTIONS - IN COMPETITIVE ONTARIO HOUSING MARKET   June 29th, 2021 THE BEST WAY TO DESCRIBE THE ONTARIO HOUSING MARKET TODAY. Sizzling, on fire, red-hot.      From its major urban centres to the rural communities, every corner of the province is witnessing record sales activity and exorbitant price growth. For years, only the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) and Ottawa enjoyed a red-hot real estate... [read more]

DEMYSTIFYING CANADA’S FIRST TIME HOME BUYER INCENTIVE (2021)   May 3rd, 2021    The First Time Home Buyer Incentive (FTHBI) is a shared-equity mortgage aimed at middle-class first-time home buyers, designed to lower their monthly mortgage payments without increasing the amount they need to save for a down payment.   CANADA’S FIRST TIME HOME BUYER INCENTIVE   How does the First Time Home Buyer Incentive... [read more]

  BANK OF CANADA MAKES INTEREST RATE ANNOUNCEMENT   July 14th, 2021 ​ BANK OF CANADA’S OVERNIGHT RATE   On July 14, the Bank of Canada maintained its target for the overnight benchmark rate at 0.25%      The Bank of Canada announced that it will continue to hold its key interest rate target at 0.25%, unchanged since March 2020 when a trio of rate cuts were implemented to boost the economy in light of the... [read more]

BANK OF CANADA HOLDS POLICY RATE - CUTS GROWTH FORECAST July 21, 2021    In a scheduled announcement on July 14, 2021, the Bank of Canada kept its target for the overnight lending rate at its effective lower bound of 0.25%.  The Bank also adjusted its Quantitative Easing (QE) program lower to a target of up to $2 billion of Government of Canada bonds weekly to reflect “continued progress towards recovery and the... [read more]

  GRAND BEND REAL ESTATE TRENDS (2021) June 4th, 2021        Grand Bend real estate was once considered a sleepy, quiet market compared to its urban counterparts, but all that changed in the past year, with buyer preferences shifting in favour of smaller communities offering more home and property, at a lower price.  But that too, is starting to change.  As interest and activity in Canada’s recreational property markets continues to... [read more]