Interest Rate Jump Brings Panic to the Real Estate Market
It’s come up time and time again in the past couple of weeks: interest rates are on the rise, mortgage lending rules are tightening and the HST is looming in Ontario and British Columbia. Now that interest rates are actually on the rise, it seems that it’s now time to add fence-sitters into the real estate fray. As if there wasn’t a shortage of housing stock to begin with, now the market has potential homebuyers who have 120 days to find the perfect house or else risk losing their low interest rate.
While spring is normally a busy time in the real estate world, this year is something completely different. In fact, overall sales for January and February were up over 44% and specifically sales in the GTA have jumped nearly 70% when compared with 2009, with Vancouver following suit at 20% and Montreal at 45%.
It’s going to be a wild ride out there for anyone looking for a house. Best of luck!
