![\"Ottawa](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Ottawa-home-prices.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: James Bombales<\/em><\/p>\nThe Bank of Canada this week announced it\u2019s maintaining its mortgage-market influencing key interest rate at 0.25 percent, a rock bottom level unseen since the peak of the 2008-2009 Global Financial Crisis.<\/p>\n
The key interest rate acts as a guide for lending rates offered by all of Canada\u2019s financial institutions. Changes to the rate are announced by the Bank of Canada at eight scheduled times each year.<\/p>\n\n
With the key interest rate sitting so low, and being expected to remain there for some time as the pandemic\u2019s economic impacts continue to be strongly felt, mortgage market experts are projecting that these favourable rates offered to Canadian homebuyers will persist for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n
On the same day that the central bank made its announcement, mortgage comparison site Ratehub.ca was offering five-year variable rates at 1.95 percent through its mortgage brokerage subsidiary, Canwise Financial. The site also quoted a five-year variable rate from TD Bank at 2.25 percent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Bank is committed to maintaining the key rate at its current level until the economy has recovered,\u201d wrote Ratehub.ca in an email to subscribers on Wednesday. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe historic low mortgage rates currently in the market should therefore continue until the economy approaches its pre-pandemic level. This means that anyone with a variable rate can expect prime to remain unchanged. Fixed rates will stay near historic lows,\u201d the email continued.<\/p>\n