Canada’s real estate recovery has barely begun but it already faces headwinds. Rising inflation and credit demand has the market now expecting 5 rate hikes. This morning, BMO Capital Markets told investors that 5 hikes seems a little much right now. However, the bank warned that rates will rise and mortgage relief for this cycle is over.
Investors Expect Interest Rates To Climb Sharply
The pressure on higher interest rates is clear. Headline CPI’s annual growth sits at 3.0%, the upper limit of tolerance for the Bank of Canada (BoC). Bond yields have responded, with the 5-year government bond adding 10 basis points (bps) in the past 5 days. It’s climbed 51 bps over the past 3 months, though consumer borrowing costs have yet to show the change. Experts also see higher costs rolling in over the next few weeks.
The market sees the current 2.25% overnight rate adding another 125 bps, or 1.25 percentage points. That works out to roughly 5 hikes, pushing the overnight rate to 3.5% by the end of 2027. Higher rates are bad news for the Canadian real estate market, which has been at a standstill for years. Especially with prices still well out of reach for the average household.
Canadian Real Estate Recovery Already Losing Steam As Sales Stall
Canadian real estate markets may have diverged when it comes to prices, but sales are slow all around. Coming in just slightly weaker than last year, some economists are now calling the bottom. That may be true, but the bottom for sales doesn’t necessarily indicate a recovery is around the corner.
“Canada’s housing market has been stable through the summer, and conditions remain balanced at the national level,” explains BMO senior economist Robert Kavcic. “Volumes and prices continue to carve out bottoms in the hardest-hit markets, but the recovery is going to be flat with little in the pipeline to trigger a sharp rebound.”
The bank sees rising rates putting a cap on demand and higher prices over the near-term. But it also thinks the market is overestimating the number of rate hikes.
Canadian Mortgage Rates Expected To Rise Soon
Source: BMO Capital Markets.
BMO previously warned that upward pressure on rates would cool the market. Affordabilty levers such as cheap credit and higher incomes have already been exhausted. They see lower prices as the only path forward to revive market activity. Kavcic reiterated the bank’s position that rising yields will kill fixed-rate relief.
“Higher longer-term bond yields and, therefore, fixed mortgage rates will continue to dampen the recovery and push many buyers into variable rates,” warns Kavcic.
Those trying to move to a variable rate to save from the lag may not find relief for long. The bank may see fewer hikes in their forecast, but they do see rate hikes ahead.
“We believe that [100 bps] is too aggressive, but it certainly looks like we’ve seen all the mortgage rate relief that we will see for this stage of the cycle—and that will keep any housing rebound well in check,” says Kavcic.
BMO is far from the only bank that’s warning investors that housing is reentering choppy waters. National Bank economists warned that mortgage rates will be climbing with yields soon. Its analysis found lenders are absorbing higher yields with narrower spreads. While that works short-term to drum up business, it’s not a sustainable path according to the bank. They see fixed rates rising in the coming weeks as lenders rebuild their margins.
