Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau makes a housing announcement with Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and Canada's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland at a press event in Toronto, on Dec. 21.CARLOS OSORIO/Reuters
Here are The Globe and Mail’s top housing and real estate stories this week, with the lowest mortgage rates available in Canada today, commentary from our mortgage expert and one home worth a look.
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Toronto reaches $471-million housing deal with Ottawa to build 53,000 units in the next decade
In an announcement in Toronto this week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the $471-million deal will produce 12,000 homes in the first three years – the largest agreement yet through the federal Housing Accelerator Fund, writes Oliver Moore and Jeff Gray. One-quarter of the money will flow immediately, with the rest disbursed over three years. In return, the city has pledged measures that include speeding up home approvals, increasing the supply of rental homes and protecting existing rental stock. Critics have said the agreement is only one step toward addressing the city’s massive affordability problems.
Canada’s inflation rate holds surprisingly steady
The Consumer Price Index rose 3.1 per cent in November from a year earlier, matching October’s increase, Statistics Canada said Tuesday in a report — surprising Bay Street analysts who were expecting the inflation rate to lower down to 2.9 per cent. Mortgage interest costs are still rising by around 30 per cent, year over year, as homeowners face the impact of higher borrowing rates, writes Matt Lundy. Economists and investors continue to expect the Bank of Canada will start to lower its benchmark interest rate in the spring or summer of 2024. In anticipation of those moves, bond yields have tumbled since October, a welcome development for people renewing their mortgages.
This week’s lowest available mortgage rates
The economic vibe for 2024 is like a mixtape of bad songs: high inflation, elevated interest rates, wobbly home values, stricter regulations, rising unemployment and escalating loan defaults. But if rates tumble as expected, 2024 could have some surprise hits among the B-sides, writes Robert McLister in his weekly column. Some advice for next year: hold off loading the truck on bank stocks until the BoC takes a chainsaw to rates, look into investing in a mortgage investment corporations, and expect mortgage stocks to fall.
Opinion: B.C. drafted a bold housing blueprint. The rest of Canada should copy it
In the fight to alleviate the housing shortage, there’s been no shortage of good ideas. What has been too often absent is political will, writes The Globe’s Editorial Board. Policy ideas started to become political reality only this year. But it is B.C. Premier David Eby and his government that have gone the furthest, in the province where housing prices first spiralled out of control. Cities in B.C. have been instructed to quickly loosen their zoning rules. This includes, without special permissions, multiple homes on a residential lot and significant density near busy transit hubs. They’ve set a template for the rest of the country to follow.
Turn your home’s empty bedroom into $875 in monthly rent
We need practical measures that work right now, not over the years required to plan and build new condos, townhomes and houses, writes Rob Carrick. He’s written before about multigeneration housing, where different generations of a family live together. But another thought is homesharing, where people rent out unused bedrooms in their home and share amenities like the kitchen and yard.