March, 2025
A Barnum & Bailey Builder
Barnum & Bailey couldn’t do it better. It’s a rollercoaster time. We’re on a wonky-wheeled-car hooked precariously on a wobbly track. The peaks and valleys are created by the tug of bonds and tariffs, threats and actions.
The scaffolds and trusses that support the track shimmy as if set up by a couple of drunken carnival workers after the pub closed. With their minds on the warm glow and golden taps at The Orange Dick, they giggle and shrug like the boss as they turn the screws on the scaffolding and say, “We’ll see how it goes.”
If tariffs come on hard as it seems they will, the economy will suffer. The Bank of Canada is already expected to cut the overnight rate, and lenders are expected to follow with lower mortgage rates. But I’m sure as you’ve heard lower lending rates may then cause inflation – forcing The Bank to raise rates again.
A real estate buying window may develop and last until about 12 months after the mortgage rates begin to reduce. Sellers of freehold properties in Toronto can take some solace in the fact that while sales volume is low, the prices for good properties are holding. Why? Demand. Scarcity.