These days potential sellers are also trying to read the tea leaves to decide whether they should sell, and when. Some are timing their listings around the dates the Bank’s governing council gets together to decide the direction of rates.
Others who haven’t put up a “for sale” sign yet are considering going to market immediately after the update if it seems that rates will stay where they are or move higher. Others will be watching for signals from the Bank that they could begin cutting rates by the end of the year, which would make early 2024 a better time to list, in the eyes of some homeowners.
In Mr. Holt’s opinion, the Bank of Canada will maintain a bias toward further tightening that will be informed by data. An increase of 25 basis points in June unnerved some buyers but sales continued, if a little more hesitantly.