“I’m a bit careful about extrapolating that throughout the year, but to see increased volumes in the last two weeks of August is not what I totally expect, either. Hopefully the Bank of Canada moves down another quarter-point [on September 4] – that will start to stimulate more activity and we can all sort of get back to a more normal cadence.”

How soon is the housing market likely to take off?

While July housing data suggested buyers had yet to flock back to the market following the Bank’s first rate cut, Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) senior economist Shaun Cathcart said in remarks accompanying its release that a hotter market in 2025 “[had] just gone from a layup to a slam dunk” thanks to the near certainty of lower rates down the line.

A continued fall in rates, Moor said, could help unlock some of the demand that’s been building in the recent challenging purchase environment. “There’s definitely got to be pent-up demand in the market,” he said. “There haven’t been that many transactions. [There have] got to be all sorts of people out there – with another child, wanting another bedroom, and haven’t chosen to move house because of the mortgage rates or whatever.

“So when the conditions become right, we’ve got to believe that business comes back to more normal situations. I think it’s those brokers today, those lenders today, that are gearing up for that, thinking about how that’s going to evolve, that are going to be successful.”

Even though the current subdued market may have a while to run yet, Moor said mortgage professionals should be well into the practice of ramping up their systems to be ready when a steady stream of business returns.