Canada's new budget has dropped, and it was mostly a snoozer for residential mortgage brokers—although slightly more interesting for commercial brokers.

We’ve distilled the relevant bits for the mortgage and real estate worlds below.

All quotes are directly from the budget unless otherwise noted. MLN's commentary appears in italics.

Bond rates moved higher on Monday, buoyed in part by manufacturing data that surprised on the upside.

More important is the scene being set for Tuesday’s federal budget release. Finance Minister Champagne claims it'll move Canada “from reliance to resilience” and “uncertainty to prosperity.”

Unfortunately, every time a Finance Minister uses inspirational nouns in sequence, a credit rating analyst gets chest pains.

It's always intriguing to learn about successful lenders who employ unique methods to create better borrower experiences.

Well, here’s just such a case. Exhibit A is Calvert Home Mortgage, a lender founded in 1975 by Everett Koeller and established as a Mortgage Investment Corporation (MIC) in 1981.

Calvert employs a strategy that few other MICs do, and certainly none I've reported on in the past 18 years.

Halloween turned extra spooky after a frightful August growth report. Here's more on that, and how rates behaved heading into this week.

Bank regulator Peter Routledge was asked Thursday if he sees OSFI's loan-to-income (LTI) limit eventually replacing Canada's mortgage stress test.

Such a decision would redraw the rulebook for lenders and brokers, since the LTI and stress test apply to borrowers quite differently.

Here's what Routledge had to say about it.

Canada’s economy took a bruising in August 2025, shrinking 0.3% instead of the Street's flatline (0%) estimate.

One could cite several culprits, but the main suspects are predictable: U.S. tariffs and a business confidence crisis.

Retail sales somehow managed to look chipper, however, climbing in two-thirds of sub-sectors. Canadians are still willing to shop through economic pain, at least until their credit runs out.

Preliminary September data (+0.1%) suggest only a meek rebound, leaving Q3 GDP tracking around +0.4% annualized. That's steady enough to avoid panic, not enough to celebrate, but at least consistent with the BoC's forecast.
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Yields gave back some of Wednesday's post-BoC spike on Thursday.

Yet, despite North America's suddenly hawkish central bankers, traders are still trying to figure out if this really is a potential cycle bottom. That's not an easy question with Canada's economy facing "structural damage" from tariffs, as BoC governor Macklem puts it.

The two biggest puppeteers of mortgage rates tugged on the same string Wednesday. The Bank of Canada and the Fed both conveyed hawkish vibes and chopped short-term lending rates a quarter-point.

Wednesday's rate savings will save a typical borrower anywhere from roughly $13 to $20 a month per $100,000 borrowed, depending on the loan type.

But the easing that everyone foresaw wasn't the biggest news. The real suspense is in what happens next.