Ontario Mortgage Rates: February 2021

February 2021 -- Canadian Mortgage & Housing Market Snapshot

1) Bank of Canada rate decisions - No Bank of Canada rate announcement occurred in February 2021. - The policy rate remained: - 0.25% throughout February 2021 - The most recent decision before February was: - January 20, 2021 -- held at 0.25% - The next decision after February was: - March 10, 2021 -- also held at 0.25% - So for February 2021 specifically, the effective overnight rate remained 0.25% all month.

2) Mortgage rate snapshot -- February 2021 The broad February 2021 mortgage-rate picture was:

• Prime rate: about 2.45%
• Variable rates:
• generally in the low-2% range
• still based on prime minus lender-specific discounts
• 5-year fixed:
• generally in the very low-2% range
• fixed pricing was still highly competitive, though bond yields were beginning to attract more attention by late winter
• Practical takeaway:
• February 2021 remained an extremely low-rate borrowing environment
• both purchase and refinance demand were still strongly supported by mortgage pricing

Caveat: I did not find a single authoritative national source giving one exact Canada-wide “average 5-year fixed” and “average variable” for February 2021 only, so these remain approximate market ranges.

Canada (national) Month-specific reporting for February 2021 showed an exceptionally strong market: - National home sales: up roughly 39.2% year-over-year - National average sale price: about $678,091 - up roughly 25.4% year-over-year - Months of inventory: around 1.8 months - Interpretation: - February 2021 was one of the most overheated points of the market - sales were very strong and inventory was extremely tight

GTA / Ontario proxy For TRREB / GTA February 2021: - Sales: 10,970 - Year-over-year sales change: +52.5% - Average selling price: $1,045,488 - up 14.9% year-over-year - New listings: 15,285 - up 42.2% year-over-year - Interpretation: - GTA sales surged - average price moved above $1 million - even with more listings, demand still outpaced supply enough to keep prices moving sharply higher

Ontario-wide I did not find a clean primary Ontario-wide February 2021 housing dataset in this run that I’m comfortable quoting directly. The strongest Ontario-specific evidence here remains TRREB / GTA.

4) Regulatory / policy news -- February 2021 I did not verify a major new OSFI, FSRA, or federal mortgage-policy shock landing specifically in February 2021.

Best month-specific characterization - February 2021 was mainly a continuation month - The relevant policy backdrop remained: - BoC at 0.25% - ongoing QE - July 2020 CMHC insured-mortgage changes still in effect - growing public concern about housing affordability and market overheating - No fresh February-only mortgage-rule change clearly stood out in this pass ## 5) Private / alternative lending -- February 2021 I did not find a clean Ontario-only private-lending data release for February 2021 in this run.

Best month-specific characterization - private / alternative lending remained relevant for borrowers unable to qualify conventionally - but the dominant February 2021 story was the strength of the mainstream housing market - I do not have a clean February-only Ontario private-lending metric to quote

Major headlines - No BoC move in February - low-rate backdrop stayed fully intact - National housing market remained extremely hot - average national sale price rose to roughly $678,000 - GTA average price crossed $1 million - one of the biggest Ontario housing headlines of the month - Inventory stayed critically tight - helping fuel continued rapid price appreciation

Fraud / court / lender events - I did not find a single clearly dominant mortgage fraud case, lender collapse, or court ruling that I could confidently verify as a defining February 2021 mortgage headline in this run

Bottom line for February 2021 - BoC: no February decision; policy rate stayed 0.25% - Mortgage rates: remained extremely low; fixeds and variables generally stayed in the low-2% range - Housing market: exceptionally strong - Canada: average price around $678,091, sales roughly +39.2% YoY - GTA: 10,970 sales, average price $1,045,488 - Policy: no major new February-only mortgage-policy shock verified - Alternative lending: still relevant, but not the defining story of the month

Caveats - You asked for February 2021 only, so I kept this month-specific. - I could verify the policy-rate continuity strongly and the broad market picture from month-specific evidence. - I did not directly extract a clean primary Ontario-wide February 2021 dataset in this run. - I also did not** find a single authoritative national “average 5-year fixed / average variable” series for February 2021 only, so the mortgage-rate section remains an approximate market snapshot rather than a precise official average.