Once-Hot Toronto Housing Hits Deep Freeze as New Rules Bite
- New stress tests hit as interest rates continue to rise
- Brokers say days of double-digit price growth thing of past
A Canadian flag flies from the balcony of a condominium unit in Toronto.
Photographer: Cole Burston/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The only thing that might be colder than Toronto in January is the city’s housing market.
While the bleak mid-winter is never the best time to sell a home in Canada, a string of open houses in the country’s largest city were chillingly empty on a recent Saturday afternoon. Tougher mortgage rules went into effect on Jan. 1 just as higher interest rates began to bite, and the market’s on edge, waiting to see if a downturn that began last year will accelerate under the added pressure.