The Financial Post reports in its Friday, Nov. 22, edition that the Bank of Canada's recent interest rate cuts may have prevented the housing market from collapsing, but they will not restore previous activity levels, according to Carl Gomez, chief economist at Costar Group. The Post's Jordan Gowling writes that Mr. Gomez stated that while mortgage rates have slightly decreased, they will not return to the lows of the past decade. Mr. Gomez says, "The housing market will get revived but it's not going to blow up again like it did before." He also mentioned that mortgage rates are influenced by bond yields, which are driven by market conditions rather than the BOC. Currently, the policy rate is at 3.75 per cent following four consecutive cuts this year. Mr. Gomez says: "The Government of Canada 10-year bond yields -- a benchmark proxy for longer term bond yields -- has stayed around 3.5 per cent. Which means that even though the BOC has been cutting interest rates, the long term bond yields that determine the market have remained around that 3 per cent." Costar released its 2025 outlook for Canada on Wednesday. The forecast highlighted Canada's weakened economy, which is currently growing well below its potential output.
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