Ontario Mortgage Rates: August 2021

August 2021 -- Canadian Mortgage & Housing Market Snapshot

1) Bank of Canada rate decisions - No Bank of Canada rate announcement occurred in August 2021. - The policy rate remained: - 0.25% throughout August 2021 - The most recent decision before August was: - July 14, 2021 -- held at 0.25% - The next decision after August was: - September 8, 2021 -- also held at 0.25% - So for August 2021 specifically, the effective overnight rate remained 0.25% all month.

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

• Prime rate: about 2.45%
• Variable rates:
• generally still in the low-2% range
• supported by the unchanged policy rate
• 5-year fixed:
• generally in the low-2% to mid-2% range
• still historically low, though above the late-2020 trough
• Practical takeaway:
• August 2021 remained a highly accommodative borrowing environment
• financing was still cheap enough to support strong housing demand even as sales had cooled from peak levels

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

Canada (national) Month-specific reporting for August 2021 showed continued cooling from the earlier pandemic boom: - National home sales: down 0.5% month-over-month from July - Year-over-year sales: down about 14% - National average sale price: about $663,500 - up about 13.3% year-over-year - Months of inventory: around 2.6 months - Interpretation: - activity had eased from earlier record highs - but prices remained elevated and inventory was still historically tight

GTA / Ontario proxy For TRREB / GTA August 2021: - Sales: 8,596 - Year-over-year sales change: -20.1% - Average selling price: $1,070,911 - up 12.6% year-over-year - New listings: 12,624 - down 31.5% year-over-year - Interpretation: - GTA sales had cooled materially relative to the previous year’s boom pace - but prices still pushed higher - new listings fell sharply, helping keep the market tight

Ontario-wide I did not find a clean primary Ontario-wide August 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 -- August 2021 I did not verify a major new OSFI, FSRA, or federal mortgage-policy shock landing specifically in August 2021.

Best month-specific characterization - August 2021 was largely a continuation month - The relevant policy backdrop remained: - BoC at 0.25% - the June 1 stress-test floor already in effect - continued affordability concerns and policy scrutiny of housing markets - No fresh August-only mortgage-rule change clearly stood out in this pass ## 5) Private / alternative lending -- August 2021 I did not find a clean Ontario-only private-lending data release for August 2021 in this run.

Best month-specific characterization - alternative and private lenders remained relevant for borrowers squeezed by: - qualification rules - high home prices - non-standard income situations - But I do not have a clean August-only Ontario metric to quantify that trend directly - The dominant August story remained: - moderating sales - still-high prices - very limited inventory

Major headlines - No BoC move in August - low-rate backdrop remained intact - Housing market cools further from peak - national and GTA sales both weaker year-over-year - Prices remain elevated - national average price around $663,500 - GTA average price above $1.07 million - Listings remain constrained - especially in the GTA, where new listings fell sharply year-over-year

What defined August 2021 The defining themes were: - cooling transaction volume - persistent affordability pressure - continued supply shortages - very low interest rates still supporting price levels ### 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 August 2021 mortgage headline in this run

Bottom line for August 2021 - BoC: no August decision; policy rate stayed 0.25% - Mortgage rates: remained low; variable rates stayed in the low-2% range, fixed rates in the low/mid-2% range - Housing market: cooler than peak, but still expensive and tight - Canada: average price about $663,500 - GTA: 8,596 sales, average price $1,070,911 - Policy: no major new August-only mortgage-policy shock verified - Alternative lending: still relevant at the margin, but not the defining story of the month

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