[bentlegen]

13 years ago in 2008 the 5 year fixed interest rate on a mortgage was 4.45%. The following year in 2009 it was below 2% because of the great recession.

Assuming you had that lower interest rate, I just want to illustrate that you may have been fortunate to have purchased at the exact best moment to buy property in North America, as home prices hadn’t yet adjusted to the new purchasing power consumers had (in the form of lower interest rates).

Also, unemployment was pretty high at the time, so while the job might seem meagre compared to today, you likely had a significant advantage vs. your underemployed peers in the region.

[bentlegen]

Looks like I was quoting variable rate figures, and not 5 year fixed interest rates, which were substantially higher than their variable counterparts (7.15% in 2008, 5.79% in 2009).

Source: https://www.superbrokers.ca/tools/mortgage-rate-history