I always appreciate reading Jason McLean's market musings every week. He gives concise updates on global economic factors and where direction lenders are heading with mortgage rates. With the Bank of Canada holding firm and not lowering its key overnight lending rate, I felt it was a good time to share Jason's update on my blog.

"The Bank of Canada (BoC) kept the overnight lending rate unchanged at yesterday’s rate meeting. The BoC is waiting to see when the federal government’s infrastructure spending will begin and how large it will be as this spending will have a stimulative effect on the economy. The BoC is also wary about additional fuel to the hot real estate markets of Toronto and Vancouver. The low loonie is also boosting the prospects of central Canada’s manufacturing sector and dramatically boosting tourism numbers which will offset economic losses in the oil sector.

The loonie fell dramatically this week, falling to almost $US0.68, as oil prices fell to 12 year lows. The loonie is up to just over $US0.70 this morning due to oil rebounding as global markets continue to rally on every possibility of additional stimulus in major economies. This latest rally was encouraged by the possibility that the European Central Bank will increase stimulus measures. However, oil supplies continue to pile up and the current rally is likely to be short lived. The dollar will likely retreat to the 68 cent level and quite possibly continue to fall to 65 cents unless there is a major shift in the economies of China or Europe.

Canadian bond yields have dropped significantly over the past month but this is not resulting in lower fixed mortgage rates. In a normal economic environment, bond yields are the primary driver of fixed mortgage rate changes. It is important to remember that major banks make almost nothing on mortgages when rates are this low. The banks just want mortgages so they can make money from banking fees, loan insurance and other complimentary products, etc.. Many consumers take the path of least resistance and stay with their primary bank for the sake of convenience when greater savings can sometimes be realized by maintaining products at a couple of financial institutions. This strategy allows the consumer to have some negotiating leverage when loans or investments mature.

Many mono-line lenders still have 5 year fixed terms available at 2.69% and lower. These lenders won’t finance all Whistler properties, but for owner occupied, regular residential properties these rates are attainable. These lenders are often only available through mortgage brokers."

For more information on mortgage options, please contact Jason:

Jason McLean, BSc
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The Mortgage Centre: Garibaldi Mortgage
www.garibaldimortgage.com
fax: 604-935-3390 cell: 604-935-9190

After doing the interview with The National that ran on Wednesday night, my phone rang on Thursday morning to do an interview with Global TV on the Whistler Real Estate Market and the impact of the low Canadian dollar. Here's the story that ran on Global BC's 6 PM newscast. It was kind of neat to do another news story and I gave the reporter all the statistics on the number of US Buyers, which he used in the story.

Growing up with my parents who were dedicated CBC radio and TV followers, I have always been a fan of CBC News' The National and Peter Mansbridge. It was pretty cool to get the call on Monday morning from Chris Brown with The National on CBC TV, asking if he could interview me on the impacts of the dropping Canadian dollar on property sales here in Whistler, BC. Here's the interview I did on Tuesday and it ran last night.

It was one of the busiest Christmas weeks for property sales in Whistler in recent memory with 18 property sales for the week of December 21 to 27, 2015 in Whistler, BC. Normally it would be a quieter week for sales during Christmas, but with the hot real estate market in Whistler we saw 11 condo sales between $65,000 and $2,055,000, 4 townhouse sales between $415,000 and $3,100,000, 1 vacant lot sale at $627,000 and 2 chalet sales between at $2,150,000 and $2,825,000.

Contact Dave Brown for more detailed information on any of these sales and all of your real estate selling or buying needs direct at 1-800-667-2993 ext 805 or 604-905-2805.

We saw 4 new property listings hit the Whistler real estate market and our active Whistler property listings total is at 288. Click here to view the new listings for the week.

We saw 15 Whistler property sales for the week of December 14 to 20, 2015 in Whistler, BC. Whistler had 6 condo sales between $124,000 and $1,000,000, 5 townhouse sales between $279,000 and $1,549,000, 1 vacant lot sale at $1,025,000 and 3 chalet sales between at $674,000 and $1,835,000.

Contact Dave Brown for more detailed information on any of these sales and all of your real estate selling or buying needs direct at 1-800-667-2993 ext 805 or 604-905-2805.

We saw 20 new property listings hit the Whistler real estate market and our active Whistler property listings total is at 287. Click here to view the new listings for the week.

We saw 12 Whistler property sales for the week of December 7 to 13, 2015 in Whistler, BC. Whistler had 5 condo sales between $120,000 and $605,000, 4 townhouse sales between $550,000 and $1,549,000 and 3 chalet sales between at $1,108,000 and $2,615,000.

Contact Dave Brown for more detailed information on any of these sales and all of your real estate selling or buying needs direct at 1-800-667-2993 ext 805 or 604-905-2805.

We saw 15 new property listings hit the Whistler real estate market and our active Whistler property listings total is at 307. Click here to view the new listings for the week.

I have just listed 413-4090 Whistler Way, a ski-in/ski-out, luxurious studio suite in the Westin Resort and Spa. Enjoy granite countertops, heated flooring, fully equipped kitchen, living room with gas fireplace and bedroom featuring the Westin Heavenly Bed. The award winning Westin Hotel offers many first class amenities including indoor/outdoor swimming pool, two hot tubs, exercise facility, Avello Spa and full service restaurants. Only a short walk to all that Whistler Village has to offer. The best location in Whistler! Asking price $179,000.

It was a busy week for Whistler property sales in the first week of December with 22 sales for the week of November 30 to December 6, 2015 in Whistler, BC. Whistler had 9 condo sales between $160,000 and $575,000, 7 townhouse sales between $536,000 and $1,252,000 and 3 chalet sales between $1,150,000 and $2,000,000 and we had 3 vacant lot sales between $2,150,000 and $5,500,000.

Contact Dave Brown for more detailed information on any of these sales and all of your real estate selling or buying needs direct at 1-800-667-2993 ext 805 or 604-905-2805.

We saw 10 new property listings hit the Whistler real estate market and our active Whistler property listings total is at 318. Click here to view the new listings for the week.

It was a quieter week for Whistler property with 10 sales for the week of November 21 to 29, 2015 in Whistler, BC. Whistler had 4 condo sales between $249,000 and $721,000, 5 townhouse sales between $270,000 and $699,000 and 1 chalet sale at $935,000.

Contact Dave Brown for more detailed information on any of these sales and all of your real estate selling or buying needs direct at 1-800-667-2993 ext 805 or 604-905-2805.

We saw 25 new property listings hit the Whistler real estate market and our active Whistler property listings total is at 335. Click here to view the new listings for the week.

We had 16 property sales for the week of November 16 to 22, 2015 in Whistler, BC. Whistler had 3 condo sales between $293,000 and $545,000, 10 townhouse sales between $457,000 and $1,599,000 and 3 chalet sales between $800,000 and $1,737,000. 

Contact Dave Brown for more detailed information on any of these sales and all of your real estate selling or buying needs direct at 1-800-667-2993 ext 805 or 604-905-2805.

We saw 17 new property listings hit the Whistler real estate market and our active Whistler property listings total is at 355. Click here to view the new listings for the week.