What the Bank of Canada Can't Decide for You
Fierce and epic all rolled into one, she’s an absolute rockstar. Jessica Hastings-Lesperance was raised with Real Estate™ for her entire life. She is co-owner, Marketing Visionary, Director of Operations, and Realtor® at the Terri Hastings Real Estate Group/Keller Williams Realty Centres, one of the top-producing Keller Williams teams in all of Canada.
I have sat at a version of this kitchen table more times than I can count. Let's call them Sam and Lee. They have the listing printouts. They have the spreadsheet. They have the house they almost made an offer on in the spring, and the one they talked themselves out of in July. Every time, the conversation ends the same way.
"Let's see what the Bank of Canada does."
So they wait. Six weeks later, there is a new announcement, a new round of headlines, a new set of opinions from people on the internet who will never meet them. Then, very quietly, the same sentence again. "Let's wait for the next one."
They are not being foolish. They are being careful. Somewhere along the way, careful turned into something else. They were waiting for permission.
The decision everyone is watching
On Wednesday, October 28, the Bank of Canada makes its next scheduled interest rate announcement. Its policy rate has sat at 2.25% since October 2025, and it has held there at every decision so far in 2026.
I am not going to tell you what happens on the 28th. Nobody can promise you that, and anyone who sounds certain is guessing with confidence. What I can tell you is what I see when families build their lives around that one morning.
Think about it. Sam and Lee have now waited through six announcements in a row where the rate did not move. Six rounds of "let's see." Nearly a year of their lives on hold for a number that stayed exactly where it was.
What happens while you wait
Here is the part the headlines rarely mention. While families wait, the market does not.
Across Ontario, there were 72,643 active residential listings at the end of September 2026, according to the Ontario Real Estate Association's figures published through CREA. That is 17.8% above the five-year average for September. The province had 5.4 months of inventory, well above the long-run average of 3.4 months for that time of year.
Here in Bruce, Grey and Owen Sound, CREA's latest market update for our riding shows active listings sitting nearly 40% above the five-year average.
In plain language, there is more to choose from than there has been in years. More homes. More time to look. More room to ask questions and think. For some families, that is good news. For others, it means the home they want will sell, and the one they need to sell will take longer. Either way, it is real life, happening now, on a regular Tuesday that has nothing to do with a rate announcement.
The questions a rate can't answer
When I sit with families like Sam and Lee, I gently move the conversation away from the Bank of Canada and back to their own lives. Because the rate is one input. It is not the decision.
The decision sounds more like this:
Does this home fit the next five years of our life? Not the next six weeks. The next five years.
What payment lets us sleep at night? Not the most a lender will approve. The number that still feels okay in a hard month.
What are we waiting for, really? Sometimes it is the rate. More often, it is fear of making the wrong choice, and no announcement will fix that.
What would we do if nothing changed? If the rate held again, would we still want to move? That answer tells you a lot.
Those are not questions a central bank can answer for you. They belong to you. When you answer them honestly, sometimes the right decision is to move forward. Sometimes the right decision is to wait. Both can be good decisions. The difference is that one is a choice and the other is a habit.
Waiting on purpose
I want to be clear. I am not telling anyone to buy or sell. Waiting can be wise. If your job is uncertain, if your family is in transition, or if the numbers make you uneasy, waiting may be exactly right for you.
What I am asking is that you wait on purpose. Know what you are waiting for. Put a date or a condition on it. Talk to a mortgage professional about what different scenarios would mean for you, and to a lawyer or financial advisor when the stakes call for it. Then make a decision that is yours, not the headline's.
Your life is not a rate announcement
Sam and Lee, the real versions I have met over the years, almost always have the same moment. One of them stops, looks at the other and says, "We've been putting our life on hold for something we can't control."
That is the moment things change. Not because the rate changed. Because they stopped waiting for permission.
On October 28, the Bank of Canada will decide what it decides. You get to decide everything else: where you want to wake up, what you want your Saturdays to feel like, and what kind of home fits the life you are building. That part was always yours.
Read more from Jessica Hastings Lesperance
Jessica Hastings-Lesperance, Realtor®, Director of Operations & Co-Owner
Fierce and epic all rolled into one, she’s an absolute rock star. Jessica Hastings-Lesperance was raised with Real Estate™ for her entire life. She is co-owner, Marketing Visionary, Director of Operations, and Realtor® at the Terri Hastings Real Estate Group/Keller Williams Realty Centres, one of the top-producing Keller Williams teams in all of Canada. Jessica is an inspiring entrepreneur, real estate investor, coach, speaker, and published author. She has been featured on major media outlets, including podcasts and real estate TV talk shows, and has been published in various magazines. Recently, she was recognized as one of Canada’s Top Fitness Instructors for 2023 by Impact Magazine.
Disclaimer: This article is general information, not financial or mortgage advice. Not intended to solicit buyers or sellers currently under contract with a brokerage.
