The Bank of Canada has announced that they are freezing interest rates for the coming year.

Realtor Liz Spetz with Access Real Estate in Shaunavon says this is good news for the real estate business. "It should be a positive for the real estate industry, just from the fact that I think we've kind of gotten over the hump with the new rules for lending and qualifying for mortgages. So, keeping these interest rates low should help stimulate buyers to be able to come in at an affordable level."

Spetz says what she has seen is a tough year in real estate, saying that numbers were down in Shaunavon, as well as in Climax and Frontier. She says that Eastend stayed pretty much on par with previous years as far as house listings and sales.

She adds that in 2019 she expects to see a positive year in real estate with an upward trend.