I was looking at some you tube just tonight and I thought that this video was quite entertaining showing the history of real estate from the 1870's to present. Although it is about the US real estate market, ours does tend to mirror the US real estate market. Fortunately we have not experienced the drop in the ridee as severe to the subprime lending fallout in the US. Although we have seen a little ripple effect. Please do not be concerned about the end of the video that leaves the rider "hanging"...it is not that the market is about to FALL!!...the creator is just waiting for additional data (lol).


Here is an article emailed to me by my mortgage broker,Evan Sirota.
Breaking news from The Globe and Mail.
Banks lower prime rate
VIRGINIA GALT
Friday, October 10, 2008
Canada's big banks lowered their prime lending rates Friday, the second time in a week, after Ottawa moved to address the banks' increased cost of borrowing.
Bank of Nova Scotia and the Bank of Montreal announced they will reduce their rates by one-quarter of a percentage point, or 25 basis points, to 4.25 per cent, effective Tuesday.
Toronto-Dominion Bank and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce said they would cut their prime rates by a slimmer 15 basis points, to 4.35 per cent.
"We are pleased to offer this reduction in interest rates to our customers, which we believe will reinforce confidence in the Canadian economy," Chris Hodgson, executive vice-president and head of domestic personal banking at Scotiabank, said in a news release.
"At a challenging time in world financial markets, this reduction in interest rates reflects actions initiated by the Bank of Canada and the federal government."
It was the second rate cut by the chartered banks in less than a week. The prime rate is the base rate that the banks use in pricing commercial loans to their best and most credit-worthy customers.
On Wednesday, the banks announced they were lowering their prime rates by just 25 basis points - refusing to pass on all of the Bank of Canada's 50-point interest rate cut announced in concert with other central banks in a bid to address the global credit crisis.
"This morning the government announced that it will buy $25-billion in insured mortgage pools to address Canadian banks' increased cost of borrowing," TD said in a news release.
"We believe that this initiative will be put into effect in a way that will reduce our overall cost of funds and, as a result we are dropping our rate today," TD Canada Trust president and chief executive officer Tim Hockey said in announcing his bank's rate cut.
"As we've been saying, a number of factors go into decisions about rate changes. Financial markets are very turbulent, and funding costs are still high.
"However, we anticipate that our cost of funds will decrease with the implementation of this program, and therefore wanted to take action that will benefit our customers directly," Mr. Hockey said.
Sonia Baxendale, CIBC's senior executive vice-president of retail markets, echoed the other banks in praising the federal government's move.
"This action is positive and we are pleased to be able to lower our prime lending rate for a second time this week for the benefit of our clients," Ms. Baxendale said.
Credit market turmoil has lead to widespread tightening of business lending conditions across Canada.
Desjardins Securities analyst Michael Goldberg said in a research note Friday that the government's plan to buy up to $25-billion in insured mortgages sent "a positive message of potential to add liquidity" to the Canadian banking system.
"Since the mortgages to be purchased are insured ...no additional risk would be taken on by [Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.]. The impact would be to inject cash into the lenders that sell mortgages into this program," he said.

If you have any real estate questions, please do not hesitate to call me at 1-888-362-3677 or visit my website at www.yorkregion4sale.com . You can also email me at info@fullhouseteam.ca