This week: Why RV living could be a solution to B.C.’s rural housing crisis, and what to know about the war in Iran’s impact on your mortgage. Plus, real estate insolvencies are on the rise, and one property worth a look.

From shuttered airports to rising oil prices and volatile stock markets, the global economy is feeling ripple effects after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran, and Iran retaliated on targets across the Middle East.

As Erica Alini, Andrew Galbraith and Mariya Postelnyak write, it might even have a chilling effect on interest rates in Canada.

Worries about inflation have prompted investors to push up bond yields and pare back expectations that the Bank of Canada will lower its trendsetting policy rate this year.

This is bad news for anyone who was hoping for declines in either fixed mortgage rates, which are influenced by bond yields, or variable ones, which tend to follow movements in the central bank’s rate. But there are steps you can take to protect yourself.

From travel to gas prices to the stock market, read more about how the war could affect your wallet.

For thousands of British Columbians squeezed by the housing crisis, RV stands for residential – not recreational – vehicle. Some RV-dwellers on Vancouver Island, like Tom and Beverley Griffiths, enjoy the unconventional lifestyle by choice, but in the area around Nanaimo, there are plenty of others who would otherwise be homeless. The couple have been pushing for the province and local government to allow year-round RV occupancy in rural areas, where rental options can be limited and prices still far out of reach, particularly for seniors. “This way, it makes living a little more affordable for some people. It’s the only way they can live,” Tom Griffiths told Kerry Gold.

Pressure on the Nanaimo Regional District to go beyond the interim measure of creating three-year permits for full-time RV-dwellers is one example of the challenges small and rural communities are facing to house their populations.

“I was surprised that such a scenic coastal escape like Vancouver Island has this widespread hidden homelessness and near-homelessness problem,” Kerry told me, adding that the anger people feel towards governments for perceived failures to build enough housing also took her by surprise. “I’ve interviewed a lot of people about housing over the last 18 years, and more than ever, I’d say people feel truly abandoned by their government.”

Rates shown are the lowest available for each term/type and category (insured vs. uninsured) as of market close on Thursday, March 5.

By whatever metric you want to use, Canada is experiencing its worst real estate cycle in decades.

According to data from the commercial real estate data firm Altus Group, “distressed sale” transactions have been increasing across the country, with 119 in 2023, totalling properties worth $767-million, 191 transactions worth more than $1.5-billion in 2024, and last year, there were 252 distressed sales, totalling more than $1.42-billion, Howard Chai writes.

Altus Group VP Raymond Wong said they define “distress sales” as ones that involve a court proceeding – creditor protection, receivership, foreclosure, power of sale – so the data does not include, for example, a property sold by an owner at a heavy discount due to financial distress. The data also only includes completed sales.

While most of these sales are currently affecting developers and commercial interests, there is a similar situation happening in the consumer space, where home sales might fall through due to heavily indebted homeowners.