The Bank of Canada held its policy rate at 2.25% again on September 2. That is the seventh hold in a row. If you have a mortgage, or you are about to get one, the useful question is not what the Bank did. It is what the Bank holding actually changes for you, and the honest answer depends entirely on which kind of mortgage you are carrying.
Bank of Canada, September 2, 2026
What the Bank actually said
The Bank left the overnight rate at 2.25%, the Bank Rate at 2.5%, and the deposit rate at 2.20%. Its reasoning was that the economy and inflation are tracking broadly in line with what it forecast back in July, so there was no case for moving in either direction.
The detail worth noticing is where inflation is coming from. Headline CPI sat around 3%, but strip out gasoline and it drops to 2.2%, which is close to target. The Bank flagged that the longer high oil prices and elevated refinery margins persist, the greater the risk that they spill into everything else. New US tariffs and Canadian counter-measures add a second source of upward pressure on costs.
Against that, the economy is not weak. Second-quarter GDP grew 3.3% after a soft first quarter, and unemployment edged down to 6.4% in July. A central bank does not cut into growth like that while it is worried about inflation.
A hold is not a pause on the way to a cut. It is the Bank saying it does not yet know which way the risks break.
If you have a variable rate
Nothing changes this month. Variable mortgage rates move with prime, prime moves with the Bank of Canada, and the Bank did not move. Prime stays at 4.45%, so your rate and your payment are exactly what they were yesterday. My rates page reads the policy rate live from the Bank of Canada, so it will show any change on the day it happens.
If you have been sitting in variable waiting for cuts to arrive, it is worth being honest with yourself about the timeline. Seven holds is not a pause. It is a stance. The next scheduled decision is October 28, and the one after that is December 9. If the Middle East conflict keeps energy prices elevated, the Bank has told you plainly that its next concern is inflation moving up, not growth slowing down.
If you have a fixed rate, or you are shopping for one
This is the part that surprises people most often. Fixed mortgage rates are not set by the Bank of Canada. They follow Government of Canada bond yields, which trade every day and price in what investors expect to happen months from now, not what was announced this morning.
That is why a fixed rate can move on a Tuesday when the Bank has not met in weeks, and why fixed rates sometimes barely react on announcement day. By the time the Bank confirms what the market already expected, the bond market has usually priced it in.
If you are waiting for an announcement day to lock a fixed rate, you are watching the wrong thing. Rate holds are scheduled eight times a year. Fixed rates can move any business day. A rate hold on your pre-approval protects you from that movement, which is the real reason to get one early. You can start an application whenever you are ready, and the hold starts from there.
If you are renewing in the next year
This is where I would spend your attention. A large number of Canadian mortgages were written when rates were at historic lows, and those terms are now coming up for renewal into a materially higher rate environment. Waiting for the Bank to rescue that renewal is a strategy with no evidence behind it right now.
What you can control is where the mortgage goes. If your mortgage was insured when you bought it, and you have never refinanced it, that insurance follows the mortgage. Moving it to a different lender as a straight switch, with no new money and no change to the amortization, keeps that insured status and the better pricing that comes with it. Add funds or stretch the amortization and it becomes a refinance, which cannot be insured, and the pricing changes accordingly.
Most people renew by signing the form their current lender mails them. That form is an offer, not a market. It is worth finding out what else is available before you sign it. I have written up how that process works on my mortgage renewals page.
If you are buying
A stable policy rate is genuinely useful when you are house hunting. It means the ground is not shifting under your pre-approval while you shop, and it makes the numbers you qualify for today a reasonable guide to the numbers you will qualify for next month.
What it does not mean is that you should wait. Buyers who hold off for a cut are making a bet on timing, and they are competing against everyone else making the same bet whenever that cut eventually lands. The better question is what you qualify for now, and whether the payment works in your actual budget. The mortgage calculator on my homepage will show you the payment at today’s rates, and it applies the minimum down payment rules automatically so the number you see is a real one.
Nobody knows where rates go next, and anyone telling you confidently either way is guessing. What I can do is show you what you qualify for today across the lenders I have access to, explain which pricing category your situation falls into, and tell you what changes if the Bank moves in October. That is a conversation worth having whether or not you do anything afterward.
Heather Dabros
If you are renewing in the next year, or trying to decide between fixed and variable, I am happy to walk through the numbers with you. No pressure, no obligation.
Book a CallSources: Policy rate, Bank Rate, deposit rate, inflation figures, GDP and unemployment data, and the October 28 announcement date are from Bank of Canada maintains the policy rate at 2¼% (September 2, 2026). The December 9 date is from Bank of Canada publishes its 2026 schedule for policy interest rate announcements and other major publications. The policy rate being unchanged since October 2025 is from Bank of Canada lowers policy rate to 2¼% (October 29, 2025). The treatment of straight switches, and the fact that a refinance cannot be default insured, is set out in Department of Finance Canada, “Straight Switches” and portfolio insurance. Prime rate is set independently by each lender and is not published by the Bank of Canada. This article is general information, not advice on your specific mortgage. Rates and rules change; confirm current details before making a decision.