You’ve worked hard for your home Is your home working hard for you?

Orangetheory Fitness Newmarket-Aurora held an Open House on May 27th, showcasing their culture of fun & fitness! Joe, the owner of this location, is passionate about his community inside and outside of the gym. Getting his team and members involved in community fundraisers such as the Southlake Run, Easter Seals Walk and Mental Health in Motion. He challenges them to raise money and awareness and offers fun incentives if they achieve their goals... such as dying his hair orange or smashing a pie in his face. If you are looking for a community of people that you can have fun and get fit with, consider stopping by to chat with Joe and his team!

Just as we were starting to see mortgage interest rates begin to decline, the booming housing prices and recent reports caused the Bank of Canada to raise benchmark lending rates ... again.

Here's the conundrum, Mortgage interest is now one of the biggest drivers of inflation! In a twist of irony, the Bank of Canada’s interest rate hikes—meant to slow the economy and bring down inflation—are now one of the leading upward contributors to inflation.

For my excel worksheet enthusiasts, you could easily see the makings of a CIRCULAR REFERENCE ERROR.

Mortgage interest costs have skyrocketed following 4.5 percentage points worth of Bank of Canada rate increases since last March.

As a sub-component of the consumer price index basket of inflation measures, mortgage interest cost was up 28.5% year-over-year as of April.

It’s a category that is now putting strong upward pressure on inflation. Another is homeowners’ replacement costs, which includes the cost of new homes, which was up 8.4% from last year, although its growth has been slowing due to the softening real estate market. Other current contributors to inflation include food (+8.3%), gas (+6.3%) and rent (+6.1%).

BMO economist Robert Kavcic said rises in rent (+6.1% year-over-year) and mortgage interest costs flow into CPI inflation readings gradually, but that "upward pressure there is now strong and persistent.”

In another note, BMO chief economist Douglas Porter was more direct: "Many will thus point to the BoC as the ’cause’ of inflation.”

Read the full article on my blog: capitalconnection.me/blog/mortgage-interest-now-one-of-the-biggest-drivers-of-inflation