Financial Conditions
About
These data provide additional perspectives on trends and developments in Canadian credit markets.
Financial Conditions Index
The Financial Conditions Index is a weighted average of financial variables. Learn more.
Housing Affordability Index
The Bank of Canada Housing Affordability index was designed to provide a timely measure of mortgage servicing costs for current housing purchases as an aid in the short-run forecasting of residential investment. The index is meant to represent the proportion of the average personal disposable income per worker that goes towards mortgage payments on a quarterly basis based on current house prices and mortgage rates. Learn more.
SLOS Business-Lending Conditions and BOS Availability of Credit
This graph shows the results of two survey questions: the Senior Loan Officer Survey (SLOS), which collects information on the business-lending practices of Canadian financial institutions, and the Business Outlook Survey (BOS), which gathers the perspectives of senior management at firms whose businesses reflect the composition of Canada's gross domestic product.
The SLOS "business-lending conditions" indicator shows the difference between the weighted percentage of financial institutions reporting tighter credit conditions and the weighted percentage reporting easier credit conditions in the preceding 3 months. The BOS "availability of credit" indicator shows the percentage of firms reporting tighter minus the percentage reporting easier terms and conditions for obtaining financing compared with the previous 3 months.
Thus, for both measures, a positive balance of opinion implies a net tightening in credit conditions.
Measures of Wholesale Bank Funding Costs
This chart shows the 3-month Canadian Dealer Offered Rate (CDOR), 5-year debt swapped into 3-month floating-rate debt, and the 3-month overnight index swap (OIS) rate. The 3-month CDOR is the average bid-side rate for Canadian bankers' acceptances determined daily from a survey of market makers and can be used as a proxy for the cost of 3-month bank funding. Five-year debt swapped into 3-month floating rate debt is an indicator of the rate for senior deposit notes, and provides an indication of the longer-term cost of bank funding. The level shift in this series on 22 March 2012 is driven by a change in the reference bonds used to calculate the 5-year bank debt spreads, rather than an increase in bank funding costs.The 3-month OIS rate represents the expected overnight interest rate over the 3-month period and can be used as a point of reference to compare the two measures of the cost of wholesale bank funding.
Trends in Key Interest Rates
This table shows changes in key interest rates.
| Overnight rate | Prime Rate | Estimated variable mortgage rate | Posted 5-year mortgage rate | Three-month bankers' acceptances | Long-term corporate bond rate | Weekly effective household interest rate (1) | Weekly effective business interest rate (2) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 October 2007 | 4.50 | 6.25 | 5.65 | 7.23 | 4.85 | 5.41 | 6.48 | 6.13 |
| 6 December 2007 | 4.25 | 6.00 | 5.65 | 7.37 | 4.70 | 5.36 | 6.59 | 6.09 |
| 24 January 2008 | 4.00 | 5.75 | 5.50 | 7.49 | 4.06 | 5.30 | 6.55 | 5.88 |
| 24 April 2008 | 3.00 | 4.75 | 4.65 | 6.99 | 3.23 | 5.32 | 5.87 | 5.40 |
| 17 July 2008 | 3.00 | 4.75 | 4.20 | 7.09 | 3.29 | 5.48 | 5.64 | 5.35 |
| 23 October 2008 | 2.25 | 4.00 | 5.25 | 7.20 | 2.68 | 5.99 | 6.10 | 5.93 |
| 11 December 2008 | 1.50 | 3.50 | 5.00 | 6.89 | 1.77 | 6.04 | 5.74 | 5.89 |
| 22 January 2009 | 1.00 | 3.00 | 4.30 | 6.73 | 1.06 | 5.90 | 5.27 | 5.44 |
| 5 March 2009 | 0.50 | 2.50 | 3.80 | 5.79 | 0.69 | 5.86 | 4.80 | 5.13 |
| 23 April 2009 | 0.25 | 2.25 | 3.25 | 5.43 | 0.46 | 5.32 | 4.29 | 4.42 |
| 8 June 2009 | 0.25 | 2.25 | 2.85 | 5.45 | 0.43 | 4.83 | 4.07 | 3.89 |
| 23 July 2009 | 0.25 | 2.25 | 2.75 | 5.85 | 0.44 | 4.54 | 4.20 | 3.57 |
| 14 September 2009 | 0.25 | 2.25 | 2.55 | 5.62 | 0.43 | 4.08 | 4.08 | 3.37 |
| 22 October 2009 | 0.25 | 2.25 | 2.35 | 5.78 | 0.43 | 4.06 | 4.05 | 3.31 |
| 10 December 2009 | 0.25 | 2.25 | 2.15 | 5.59 | 0.44 | 3.89 | 3.89 | 3.24 |
| 21 January 2010 | 0.25 | 2.25 | 2.15 | 5.49 | 0.44 | 3.72 | 3.95 | 3.23 |
| 22 April 2010 | 0.25 | 2.25 | 1.75 | 5.93 | 0.70 | 4.26 | 4.16 | 3.27 |
| 22 July 2010 | 0.75 | 2.75 | 1.90 | 5.79 | 1.03 | 3.96 | 4.02 | 3.43 |
| 20 October 2010 | 1.00 | 3.00 | 2.35 | 5.32 | 1.28 | 3.57 | 4.10 | 3.58 |
| 19 January 2011 | 1.00 | 3.00 | 2.30 | 5.19 | 1.30 | 3.94 | 4.17 | 3.69 |
| 13 April 2011 | 1.00 | 3.00 | 2.25 | 5.69 | 1.30 | 4.05 | 4.16 | 3.77 |
| 20 July 2011 | 1.00 | 3.00 | 2.25 | 5.49 | 1.30 | 3.66 | 4.07 | 3.61 |
| 26 October 2011 | 1.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 5.29 | 1.28 | 3.70 | 4.14 | 3.65 |
| 18 January 2012 | 1.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 5.29 | 1.28 | 3.37 | 4.13 | 3.45 |
| 18 April 2012 | 1.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 5.37 | 1.29 | 3.36 | 4.13 | 3.37 |
| 18 July 2012 | 1.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 5.20 | 1.30 | 3.03 | 4.06 | 3.31 |
| 24 October 2012 | 1.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 5.20 | 1.29 | 3.01 | 4.03 | 3.25 |
| 23 January 2013 | 1.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 5.20 | 1.29 | 3.02 | 3.98 | 3.24 |
Weekly Effective Interest Rates
The effective interest rate for households is a weighted-average of various mortgage and consumer credit interest rates. The weights are derived from residential mortgage and consumer credit data, adjusted for additional information provided by financial institutions. The effective interest rate for businesses is a weighted-average borrowing rate for new lending to non-financial businesses, estimated as a function of bank and market interest rates. The weights are derived from business credit data. Learn more.
