The benchmark rate, which sits at 4.5 per cent and has pushed borrowing costs up, is eating into prospective buyers' budgets and leaving many stuck in a tight rental market.
After nearly two years of weekly open house visits, watching the interest rate double, and the “heartbreaking” experience of being outbid on a 1,000-square-foot home that she had fallen in love with, Fitzgerald decided she had to change plans. Simpson lived in London three years ago, when she paid about $950 in rent for a two-bedroom unit. A similar unit now costs about $1,500 a month, she said.
Landlords weren't comfortable renting to someone whose income isn't uniform throughout the year, she said, especially when the heated rental market has more than enough steady earners prepared to offer more cash to snag a place. Lagreou, who rents in Montreal’s Mile End neighbourhood, also worries that even if he finds a property within his budget, he will be outbid.