Article content continued
“As we enter the winter days, I think the economic activity will slow down and that usually leads to lower interest rates,” Tal said by phone. “If you look at the Bank of Canada buying in the bond market, they are starting to focus more and more on the two- to five-year rate and they are actually selling 10-and 30-years (bonds). They are reducing their involvement in the long end of the curve and keeping their involvement in the two- to five-years which means they are putting some downward pressure on this segment of the curve.”
“These two reasons suggest that we might see some moderate pressure to lower interest rates.”
Other analysts say it’s unlikely the Bank of Canada will further cut interest rates — unless something even more calamitous happens to the economy — as it’s already said a few times that 0.25 per cent is as low as it wants to go. Still, the pandemic’s cull of part-time and wage earning jobs is depressing rents and condo prices in urban cores. At the same time, work-from-home arrangements are boosting cottage-area prices and prompting an exodus from high-density urban centres.
We might see some moderate pressure to lower interest rates
Benjamin Tal
“What COVID has done to housing demand is shift it a lot to low-rise and single-detached homes,” Robert Hogue, senior economist at RBC Royal Bank focusing on the housing market, said by phone. “Single-detached homes will be more resilient that what CMHC has been talking about.”
Demand is also affected by the lack of immigration this year, which usually stands about 300,000 annually. And tourism’s decline is putting more Airbnb units back on the market as long-term rentals. Still, Hogue says the housing market has been much more vibrant than what the bank expected.
“When you look at how tight markets are across Canada — there are exceptions out there, especially in Alberta, for example — it’s hard to imagine that prices will start declining in very short order,” Hogue said. “There is probably momentum that will carry for a number of months.”
As for the potential of borrowing rates to sink further: “They’re incredibly low. I never thought I’d see this in my lifetime, but here we are,” the economist said.
“We’re getting pretty close to zero, but what I’ve learned over the last decade is ‘never say never.’”
Financial Post
