Calgary Real Estate Market

The Calgary real estate market looks like it may be slowly, trending in the right direction – fingers crossed! Inventory levels have eased, and it looks like the softened prices have brought a few people back into the market.

We still have a long way to go, but positive is positive. I, for one, am pretty happy to see positive changes.

Mortgage Rate Update

Great news on the rate front too!

In last week’s rate announcement, the Bank of Canada (BoC) left the overnight rate unchanged which means good news for those who have variable rates. That’s a relief for mortgage holders and those with variable rate loans and lines of credit. But what can we expect for the balance of 2019?

Well, analysts are forecasting a rate decrease in the US, and bond markets are responding to that with continuing to fall – down to 1.345 from an end September 2018 high of 2.484. We’re seeing fixed rates follow with decreases across the board. For insured and insurable mortgage products, the best rate on the market today is 2.89%.

This leads analysts to believe that a future Prime rate decrease is more likely than an increase, despite the BoC’s belief that the economic slowdown that we’ve seen is temporary.

It looks to me like low rates, along with soft housing prices, is boosting the Calgary Real Estate market. A welcome boost for sure!

Mortgage Changes

I’ve just returned home from our provincial industry conference in Banff. As an industry, we are encouraged by the lobbying for easing of the stress test and/or other changes (ie. maximum 25 year amortization on insured mortgages) that have been introduced in the last couple of years.

From advocating for a more relevant, more consistent and less restrictive stress test, to bringing back 30 year amortizations, Mortgage Professionals Canada has consumers best interests in mind. These changes have prevented a calculated 10,000 first-time homebuyers from getting into the market.

There is little confidence that the new First-time Homebuyers Incentive will do much to create a noticeable difference for most new buyers. Some even wonder if the program will actually launch!

So far, no further details have been released about the program. With the election looming, can the Liberals afford to take their eye off that ball? Or, do they risk losing the FTHB vote by not moving forward with the program?

Only time will tell, and we’ll keep you posted as we learn more!