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Canadians think the low mortgage rates are here to stay—and aren’t planning on buying anytime soon

Canadians are not planning to buy houses in the next two years, according to a poll of the Royal Bank of Canada released Thursday.

Even with mortgage rates at record lows, RBC’s annual poll shows that 73 per cent of the respondents said they were not likely to buy a house in the next two years. The same poll however showed a conflicting 59 per cent of the people questioned believed now was the best time to enter the market rather than next year, a big leap from the 41 per cent last year.

Marcia Moffatt, the head of home equity financing for RBC, tried to explain the confusing results: “I would say that people are pretty conflicted around home buying intentions,” Moffatt told the Canadian Press. “Consumer sentiment is not all pointing in the same direction.”

But Canadians’ confidence in stability has remained high, according to the RBC poll. Approximately 88 per cent of those polled believed a home is a good investment, and 46 per cent expected mortgage rates to stay at ultra-low levels in 2013, while only 30 per cent believed in constant low-rate mortgages in 2011.

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