Ontario Mortgage Rates: August 2023

August 2023 -- Canadian Mortgage & Housing Market Snapshot

1) Bank of Canada rate decisions - No Bank of Canada rate announcement occurred in August 2023. - The policy rate remained: - 5.00% throughout August 2023 - The most recent decision before August was: - July 12, 2023 -- raised to 5.00% - The next decision after August was: - September 6, 2023 -- held at 5.00% - So for August 2023 specifically, the effective overnight rate remained 5.00% all month.

2) Mortgage rate snapshot -- August 2023 The broad August 2023 mortgage-rate picture was:

• Prime rate: about 7.20%
• Variable rates:
• generally in the mid-6% to low-7% range
• still highly restrictive relative to prior years
• 5-year fixed:
• generally in the high-5% to low-6% range
• fixed pricing remained elevated and sensitive to bond-market expectations
• Practical takeaway:
• August 2023 remained a very high-rate environment
• both purchase affordability and mortgage qualification stayed under pressure

Caveat: I did not find a single authoritative national source giving an exact Canada-wide “average 5-year fixed” and “average variable” for August 2023 only, so these remain approximate market ranges.

Canada (national) Month-specific reporting for August 2023 showed: - National home sales: down 4.1% month-over-month from July - National average sale price: about $650,140 - down about 3.9% year-over-year - Months of inventory: around 3.7 months - Interpretation: - national sales weakened - prices were lower than a year earlier - inventory was higher than in the ultra-tight pandemic boom, though still not loose by long-run standards

GTA / Ontario proxy For TRREB / GTA August 2023: - Sales: 5,294 - Year-over-year sales change: -3.4% - Average selling price: $1,082,496 - up 1.1% year-over-year - New listings: 11,762 - down 5.7% year-over-year - Interpretation: - GTA sales were roughly flat to slightly down versus the prior year - prices remained just above year-ago levels - the market was softer than earlier in 2023, but still supported by relatively tight supply

Ontario-wide I did not find a clean primary Ontario-wide August 2023 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 2023 I did not verify a major new OSFI, FSRA, or federal mortgage-policy shock landing specifically in August 2023.

Best month-specific characterization - August 2023 was largely a wait-and-see month - The relevant backdrop remained: - BoC at 5.00% - high mortgage rates - affordability pressure - ongoing adjustment in housing demand - No fresh August-only mortgage-rule change clearly stood out in this pass

5) Private / alternative lending -- August 2023 I did not find a clean Ontario-only private-lending data release for August 2023 in this run.

Best month-specific characterization - high rates and qualification pressure likely continued to support demand for: - private lending - alternative mortgage channels - bridge / restructuring solutions - But I do not have a clean August-only Ontario metric to quote directly - The dominant story remained: - elevated borrowing costs and softer housing demand

Major headlines - No BoC move in August - but the July hike still weighed heavily on the market - National sales and prices soften - both weaker than in July or the prior year - GTA remains relatively resilient - prices slightly above year-ago levels - sales only modestly lower - Inventory remains higher than the boom period - but not so high as to produce a disorderly price unwind

What defined August 2023 The defining themes were: - high rates - weaker sales - softer national pricing - continued affordability strain - cautious market behavior while waiting for the next BoC signal ### 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 2023 mortgage headline in this run

Bottom line for August 2023 - BoC: no August decision; policy rate stayed 5.00% - Mortgage rates: remained very high; variable rates in the mid/high-6% to low-7% range and fixeds in the high-5% / low-6% range - Housing market: softer than earlier in the year - Canada: average price about $650,140 - GTA: 5,294 sales, average price $1,082,496 - Policy: no major new August-only mortgage-policy shock verified - Alternative lending: likely still relevant at the margin, but no clean August-only Ontario figure verified

Caveats - You asked for August 2023 only, so I kept this month-specific. - I could verify the policy-rate continuity strongly and the broad market pattern from month-specific reporting/search-result evidence. - I did not directly extract a clean primary Ontario-wide August 2023 dataset in this run. - I also did not** find a single authoritative national “average 5-year fixed / average variable” series for August 2023 only, so the mortgage-rate section remains an approximate market snapshot rather than a precise official average.