Since late in the first quarter of the year, it’s been predicted that the Bank of Canada will be dropping rates this year.  The wait continues however, as the Bank of Canada announced this morning that they will be maintaining their overnight rate.  The overnight rate is what prime rate is based on.
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 For anyone following my blogs, you’ll know that this is not something that has come as a surprise, and is exactly what was expected. 
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The Bank of Canada has been desperately trying to avoid a rate cut this year, however pressure remains on them to come through with the cut.  The next scheduled rate announcement is on December 4th, where there is greater chance that we’ll see it happen.   We will definitely see a rate cut coming…. it’s just a matter of whether it’s onDecember 4th, or whether it happens in 2020. 
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Meanwhile, 5 year fixed rates have risen to 2.69% – 2.99%, depending on your situation.  The upward pressure on fixed mortgage rates was largely due to the anticipation of lack of action from the Bank of Canada.  As market confidence towards the BOC cutting rates, we’ll then start to see fixed rates start to fall back down again.
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You can read about today’s announcement here.
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Paul Meredith is the author of the Amazon #1 best selling book, Beat the Bank – How to Win The Mortgage Game in Canada, and has ranked as one of the top 75 mortgage brokers in Canada since 2016. He was a finalist for Mortgage Broker of the Year in 2018, and can be seen as the exclusive mortgage broker on season two of TV’s Top Million Dollar Agent.