If you want the very best deal on a big bank mortgage, get ready to sign up for more products, whether you like them or not.

Banks want your business, all of it — your chequing account, credit card, investments, creditor life insurance, auto loan. The whole enchilada. And if you don’t give them more than your mortgage, depending on the bank, you don’t get their lowest mortgage rates.

It’s typical for lenders to factor a client’s other business into their mortgage rates. In fact, this so-called ‘relationship pricing’ is as old as banking itself. But some banks (e.g., Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Bank of Nova Scotia) are extra vocal about pushing multi-product commitments.

At CIBC, for example, “If the (mortgage) economics are not constructive, we look for the clients that understand the kind of relationship we want to build with them, and work with them,” said chief executive Victor Dodig at Tuesday’s Royal Bank of Canada Capital Market’s Canadian Bank CEO Conference.

This year could be the year Toronto takes the crown for the most expensive real estate market in the country.

Royal LePage President Phil Soper said while home prices in the two cities are “very close today,”

The average price of a Vancouver home across all property types in November was $1,172,100, which was down 0.9 per cent year-over-year.

The average price of a Toronto home across all property types reached $1,106,050 in November after a modest 2.6 per cent increase year-over-year.

“There’s a number of economic variables that are moving things ahead in Ontario and that’s translating into a strength in the housing market,” Soper told CP24.com.

“As we look ahead to 2025, we do see home prices in Toronto rising at about double the rate of Vancouver.”

Soper said 2025 will see an increase in sales volumes across all segments of Toronto’s housing market, including condos, townhouses, semi-detached homes, and detached residences.

Signs of strength in Canada’s labour market to close out 2024 are fuelling doubts among some Canadian economists about whether the central bank will deliver another interest cut later this month.

A jump in new jobs helped bring the Canadian unemployment rate down a tick to 6.7 per cent in December, according to Statistics Canada.

Canadian employers collectively added some 91,000 net new jobs last month, the agency said, with BMO calling it one of the largest single months of gains in two years.

Job gains were largely in full-time work and broadly based across multiple industries, led by educational services and transportation and warehousing. The public sector saw a jump of 40,000 jobs, while some 27,000 positions were added in private work.

Changes to the rules surrounding mortgages that come into effect Sunday should help more people enter the housing market as buyers, real estate experts say.

The changes, which were announced by the federal government back in September, include allowing first-time home buyers and buyers of newly built homes to draw out the length of their mortgages, among other things.

The updates, effective Dec. 15, are a good move, local mortgage broker Mary Sialtsis told the Star: “It’s going to open some new opportunities for buyers.”

What are the new rules?

For the first time since 2012, the price cap for mortgages insured against default has been increased, to $1.5 million from $1 million, to permit more people to qualify with smaller down payments.

Before this change came into effect, first-time buyers of homes purchased for over $1 million had to put at least 20 per cent down, but those buying for less than $1 million could put as little as five per cent down.

The updated rules also make first-time home buyers with insured mortgages, and any buyer of a new build, eligible for a 30-year amortizations — giving them more time to pay down the balance — as opposed to the 25-year limit faced by others.

International migration continues to account for most of the increase in population.

The federal government tightened up temporary foreign worker program rules and capped study permits after facing significant political scrutiny for the impact of strong population growth on housing and services.

The report says the three-month period saw the lowest net increase in the number of non-permanent residents of any third quarter since 2015, excluding the third quarter of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic led to a sharp decrease.

About 80,000 people moved between provinces in the third quarter, marking a decrease in interprovincial migration that is closer to pre-pandemic levels.

The Canadian and American economies often move together, but the loonie is the latest sign that won’t be the case this time. The Canadian dollar has been plunging against the US dollar, a.k.a. Greenback. That loonie’s erosion was amplified this month as the two central banks diverged on outlooks for their respective economies, with the American economy set to outperform the Canadian economy significantly.

This kind of weakness hasn’t been observed outside of the deepest global recessions, and with Canada prioritizing non-productive investments—relief may not be around the corner.

Currency strength is an important economic lever, with a weak loonie having pros and cons. Advocates of a weak loonie against the greenback feel this helps make investment more attractive. Foreign companies essentially get a discount on everything from land to labor. Historically, this has helped revive real estate investment, and created well-paying jobs—notably with US tech giants, the film industry, and banking. However, a weak loonie isn’t a free ride.

After rents declined for the first time since 2021 in October, prices slipped even further in November, reaching a 15-month low.

By the end of the month, average asking rents for all unit types had hit $2,139, down 1.6% from last November and 0.6% from the previous month when rents had dropped 1.9%, according to the latest National Rent Report from Rentals.ca and Urbanation.

The year-over-year decline, the report points out, can largely be attributed to the falling of asking rents over the second half of 2024, with rents down 2.8% since July. This declining trend is encouraging for renters who have faced massive rent hikes in recent years, though rents still remain 6.7% higher than two years ago and 18.8% higher compared to three years ago.

Even if this is the last dip for a while, economists believe that first-time homebuyers may have a substantial edge.

Specifically, since this cut runs alongside recent amendments to insured mortgages (which boost the national price cap to $ 1.5 million) and the expansion of amortizations for first-time buyers — moving the timeline up to 30 years.

Rishard Rameez, who operates the Ontario-based real estate platform Zown, has been assessing these market trends to understand what 2025 may look like for would-be home buyers in Ontario.

“This December has been very different for us compared to last year. As of now, we are seeing a significant increase in inbound calls from people preparing a home purchase. Over the next two or three months, we are likely going to see a 20 to 30 per cent increase in first-time home buyers,” Rameez told INsauga.com.

Former Bank of Canada deputy governor Paul Beaudry expects policymakers to cut their key interest rate until it hits at least 2.75 per cent, with the path beyond that point less clear.

Beaudry said he expects the next move in January to be a quarter-point cut, after two half-point cuts in a row. Officials paired Wednesday’s rate decision with a statement that said they will evaluate the need for further cuts “one decision at a time,” but Beaudry said it’s obvious rates are still going to decline from this point.

The benchmark overnight rate is now at 3.25 per cent, the top end of the bank’s estimate for the so-called neutral range. The bottom of that band is 2.25 per cent, and Beaudry said the central bank will likely push to get to the middle of the range.

“It should be decreasing rather quickly to get there,” said Beaudry, who now teaches economics at the University of British Columbia. “Then the question is what will it do when it gets to the centre of that band, which is about 2.75 per cent?”