...and I thought for sure the rates could only rise.

^ that is crazy!!! more opportunity for people to overspend on a house/condo they won'[t be able to afford in the long term.....

I found this funny in the article... I wonder why Jim Flaherty lost his job and the new guy doesn't pipe up about the low rates.... Big money rules all

Ummm Flaherty didn't "lose" his job.

Whatever happened to him he is no longer the finance minister. Call it what you want

^ I guess anyone who retires really got fired???? have some respect man, the man served his country and recently passed away.

I do respect him for standing up for what's right. We need more people like him in this world.

I wonder if the other lenders will match, or if its just something IG is doing to drum up business temporarily. Typically, I found that the big banks won't match, but the smaller players will.

...I hope this lasts for another year, I can save $100 a month on my mortgage. lol.

Loss-leader mortgages?

I guess IG is banking on the BoC prime rate to rise.
In any case, this will only encourage more people to buy.

Fixed

Buying places at a lower interest rate is far from making someone an idiot. This benefits those who can afford it as much as those who can't. Anyways, pretty nice to see that rate come out the day I list my condo.

People are only idiots if they are reaching above their means. For someone who can afford to buy a place for whatever reason they put forth, this is welcomed news.

I made 2 million dollars in the last 10 years and blew it all, has been a lot of fun!!!

Just means now if I want a property to raise kids in someday I have to work my ass off in my mid 30's( Maybe even an 8 hour work day :( ) when a bunch of you 9-5'ers have equity in homes already

The property market in Vancouver is such a status symbol. People really like to brag about how many properties they own, I've noticed that big time!

That's good for you. I guess I made a real mistake not going into porn and instead deciding to get married and hoping to raise a family. Real regret I have.

Back on topic: it's an interesting time. All this chatter about raising rates for the past year and a bit, and they drop (albeit, likely temporarily). I do wonder what the next 3-5 years are going to look like, since based on my own eyes and what I'm seeing in the neighbourhoods I frequent, homes are being put up for sale and bought in relatively short periods of time.

I've met too many divorced guys who have lost it all...

Besides, a man can remain very attractive to women into his 40's and still reproduce if the right situation comes along. Especially once you've refined your tastes and understood what kind of woman you get along with the best.

What TOTALLY sucks that if you want to live on the west side of Vancouver you're going to need like 3 mil for a decent place. The good life baby, woo!

Example:

V1058765, 4077 W 32ND AV, Vancouver, British Columbia V6S1Z5

Oh lawdy, sweet Jesus I could turn that into the most stylish fucking place in the world, but $3 million! Holy fuck!!!

But check out what a DUMP only a million gets you:

V1049715, 4331 ATLIN ST, Vancouver, British Columbia V5R2C1


#FreeSpirit
#Rent4Lyfe

I think there's a lot of misinterpretation in this thread, the fixed rates have not gotten lower, instead IG is taking this off the prime rate of 3% (a variable rate)

This 1.99% is a variable mortgage, and is based on the overnight rate.

Fixed rate mortgages are set off bond rates, bond rates, are still expected to rise by most analyst, albeit it wont increase by much.

What's stopping the rates from ever going back to what they were in the 80's?

The Canadian government can't let that happen or the entire Canadian economy would be destroyed for the rest of our lifetimes. Also, there is a lot of money to be made from selling 2% 500k mortgages to 1 million people, instead of 18% 100k mortgages to 10000 people after the bottom falls out of the market and real estate becomes essentially worthless as the net worth of the average canadian is negative 750k.
(These numbers are in no way calculated, just being used as an example to make sense of the disaster that it would cause)

Continuous low interest rate is not a long term solution for economy.

Take a look at Japan. They have had 0% rate pretty much the last 3 decades, but they basically suffered the worst/longest deflation ever in modern history.

This happens when the economy is bumped beyond its sustainability. And thus, price stops to increase after a (relative) short period of rapid increase as affordability reaches its limit. And then slowly crawl back to a sustainable level/economic principal.

If that's the soft-landing Canada is planning. Hold on tight guys, it's going to get ugly.

Each country and their economy are unique, and while the Japanese example suggests that a consistently low interest rate failed to rejuvenate their economy, other factors must be taken into consideration as well.

For example, bureaucracy at the various levels of Japanese governments is quite intense, to the point that it can easily (and often) stall policy implementation. As a whole, Japanese are also very conservative and reluctant to change. This is part of the reason why they preserve their time honoured traditions so well, but it also makes them inflexible and slow to respond to rapidly changing landscape.

It is kind of like any sort of medical treatment -- the same treatment often works better on certain patients than others because everyone responds to the remedy attempts differently. To label one particular method ineffective because it didn't work in one particular case is inappropriate.

Another thing to take into consideration is, whst if the consistently low interest rate hasn't been put in place? Would Japan be better off? worse off? about the same? Nobody knows because the only way to prove something as complicated as the economy in the real world is to let it happen and observe.

So I think the more correct thing to say is that in Japan's case, a consistently low interest rate failed to revive their economy. Does it mean it won't work in the Vancouver, Canadian, or US economy? I don't know the answer to that. But I am going to say, the Canadian, US, and N.American economy in general have enough differences compared to the Japanese economy that whatever worked or didn't work in Japan doesn't necessarily mean the same thing will happen here.

>hits bong<


I don't even want to reproduce if it would mean I have to live in East Van with the unwashed masses


Will be interesting to see how housing prices affect societal trends; are there a massive amount of 30+ year old professionals who just drink, do drugs, socialize and have tons of sex because they see no way of getting a real family home? My own, uh, "research" has shown me that nearly all of the brightest people I know haven't reproduced! It does seem like a hollow status symbol in some ways, almost a regression to what our parents had. Then again, I enjoyed growing up in a house with a backyard so much, there's no way I could ever have a wife and kids without a detached house and a yard. I was a filthy kid who played in the dirt constantly, it is a big reason why in my adult life I've been healthy as fuck!

Another thing, driving around west of Arbutus there are so, so many houses with uncut lawns. My gf says these homes are all owned by people who reside out of the country and the homes are for investment purposes only. Take a tour around for yourself, there are tons of houses on 33rd alone that are totally unkempt!

I hope you are joking......

Most of the professionals I associate with, all very bright people are either heavily underpaid and underemployed here, or they've moved away.

Let's not forget, Vancouver hasn't always been expensive, this is a short term phenomenon. However, lack of an economy is a long term Vancouver thing.

As far as I can remember it's always been expensive relative to the rest of the Country.