Canadian historical interest rates 1980-2023


I always find it insightful to look at where we have been. This graph illustrates the interest rate landscape of the past 40+ years. As represented by the prime lending rate.

(right click and select open in new window for a larger image or if on mobile, just zoom in on your screen)

South Okanagan historical real estate prices


Here are historical real estate prices for the South Okanagan dating back to 1980. It gives perspective to how out of control things got leading up to the 2008 financial crash; followed by 10 years of incredibly low interest rates where late 2019/early 2020 would have seen an even worse financial crisis had the pandemic scenario not come around. Then, further spending to get out of that fresh crisis. It’s been a wild time for real estate and it isn’t over yet!

Also included in the graph is the M2 money supply of Canada, which is the broadest measurement of money circulating in Canada & a good indicator of inflation. I believe, this tends to correlate well with backstopping real estate prices, as can be seen in the graph. We have advanced significantly over these years of big spending and the correlation to house prices is pretty incredible. It does appear however, that we may be getting a bit ahead of ourselves, if history is any guide. Time will tell.

I hope you find this informative!

South Okanagan historical sales volume


The best way to figure out where we are headed sometimes is to look in the review mirror. Where have we been? This is a look at the total volume of transactions back to 1980.