Top mortgage stories of the week:

• Bank of Canada hints at rate hike but stands pat for now
• Canada’s new mortgage rules will cool housing, but higher rates still needed: TD
• Doors shutting on first-time buyers

This Week's Quotation:

“ It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. ” - J. K. Rowling

Bank of Canada hints at rate hike but stands pat for now

For the 16th consecutive policy meeting, the Bank of Canada has decided to keep its benchmark target for the overnight rate steady at one per cent. The world's economy is expanding at roughly the pace Canada's central bank was anticipating, the bank said Wednesday. Europe's economy is in crisis and the U.S. economy is expanding at a gradual pace — two factors putting a damper on Canada's prospects. Despite those headwinds, the bank said it expects Canada's economy to pick up the pace next year. But not, apparently, enough to compel the bank to raise its target for the overnight rate — yet… Read more....

Canada’s new mortgage rules will cool housing, but higher rates still needed: TD

TD Bank says tighter mortgage rules should do the job of cooling Canada's hot housing market in the short term, but higher interest rates will be needed to return the market to saner levels.The bank's chief economist Craig Alexander estimates the new rules, which went into effect July 9, will shave five percentage points off sales activity and cut prices by 3% on average during the second half of this year and early 2013… Read more....

Doors shutting on first-time buyers

The Toronto and Vancouver housing markets have cooled rapidly in the wake of Ottawa's latest bid to stop a bubble, with many first-time buyers knocked out of the running. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty put the July 9 changes into effect to curb growing mortgage debt levels and take some steam out of house prices. Among other things, the new rules cut the maximum length of insured mortgages to 25 years from 30…

Summer Stats: Average MLS® resale prices for local markets

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