So the last couple of weeks has been really crazy in the Ottawa market. It's been great news for sellers and really tough for buyers as we're seeing the home prices skyrocket. The buyer saw a little bit of good news last Thursday when the Bank of Canada told us that they won't be increasing the interest rates yet, but rest assured this will be happening soon. So in today's blog, we're going to go through the last couple of weeks, what we've been seeing, and of course, what we expect to see in the next couple of weeks going forward.

So let's start off talking about interest rates. Well, we haven't seen the variable rate increase yet, we actually have seen the fixed-rate already been increasing.

And right now we're seeing the biggest gap between the variable and fixed rate that we've ever seen for an insured mortgage meaning less than 20% down, the five-year fixed rate is sitting around 2.69 with a variable rate at 1.2, making a difference at 1.49.

Typically, when the bank raises the rate, they do let a .25% increase, meaning we need six increases before we actually see the variable-rate pass the fixed rate. While there are five to six projected rate hikes next year, it's actually going to take all six for the variable to match the fix.

Well, what you're not taking into account is if you get the mortgage today, the amount of savings that you'll get paying the variable mortgage until it reaches the fixed rate.

So next, let's take a look at this graphic that will help explain exactly what I'm talking about.

So when we're looking at the fixed-rate monthly payment vs. the variable-rate monthly payment, you're gonna see there's about a $300 difference in those rates.

So if we take a look at someone who starts paying their mortgage off today, at today's variable rate vs. what they will be paying in the future, you'll see that you have about $6,000 of savings.

So that is the good news for the buyers who are looking to get into the market right now. Unfortunately, the next news is good news for sellers, and a bit shocking to most of you buyers.

The last couple of weeks, we've seen the extremely low inventory, bring back bidding wars in full effect, we've returned back to what we were seeing at the beginning of last year of 10, 20 offers on a property with 30, 40, 50 showings in just a couple days. The graph that I'm pulling up now is going to show you the price increase in just the last couple of weeks.

So if you take a look here at the green line, you'll see that the average home price is increased by almost $100,000 in just the last couple of weeks. The red line being the home prices of 2021, orange 2020, and blue 2019. To see the average home price is almost double compared to the exact same week of 2019.

So for all you sellers out there who have been looking for your opportune time to hit the market, now might be just the time you're looking for.

And again, for the buyers don't despair. Even though the home prices are high, they are looking like they're going to increase, with the savings that you're going to get with today's mortgage rates, now might be the best time to buy.

But obviously, these overall numbers don't take into account individual markets or your individual buying or selling goals. So if you have any questions, you can always give me a call directly send me a message. I'm happy to help.