Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem on Thursday spoke about the Canadian housing market, saying it was “unsustainably hot” during the COVID-19 pandemic with prices up by 50 per cent. As a result, more people than usual “stretched to get into the market” such as through a variable rate mortgage. But as interest rates have risen to combat inflation, the hot market has resulted in a “vulnerability” if the economy were to “slow sharply” and leave people unable to cover risky mortgages.
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