With mortgage rate so low, what are the big banks to do?

According to the Bank of Canada, the mortgage rate growth among residential buyers rose nearly 3 percent in just one year. As of December, the rise results in a nearly $1.55 trillion, which can and is deemed to be among the slowest paces in nearly 17 years. Due to this, Canada’s big banks have been pressured to find business elsewhere.

According to Craig Fehr, the investment strategist at Edward Jones & Co., people looking to invest will most likely need to refresh their goals, in regards to this new trend. According to Craig, the big banks that will succeed among the rest are those that have “other levers to pull”.

Housing markets across Canada, specifically in Toronto and Vancouver, have cooled drastically due to governmental efforts. Unfortunately for residents, Toronto and Vancouver reported just what may be their worst year in terms of sales in a very long time. A period of time that could be nearly a decade.

Lately US short-sellers and hedge funds have bet all odds against the majority of the Canadian banks, and this could be said to be the fault of over inflated housing markets. As previously mentioned, Toronto and Vancouver are specifically responsible.

Looking to the future, Canadian bank executives expect that growth this year will be noticeably slower. Teri Currie, the man responsible for overseeing the domestic banking division at Toronto-Dominion Bank, says that he expects “mid-single digit” growth throughout this year. Canada’s economic expansion is estimated to maintain itself at around mortgage rate 1.9 percent in 2019.

Thankfully, according to Manulife Asset Management, the slowdown is being countered by a significant growth among business loans. Although growth across the industry is looking bleak, there’s always hope, and with time, we’ll bounce back. We always do.