This week: What a steady interest rate and the trade war mean for your mortgage, and Toronto returns to the office. Plus, a city gets creative with multiplexes, and one property worth a look.

Despite nearly a year of steady key rates in Canada, uncertainty is the only thing potential buyers and mortgage shoppers can count on right now. The Bank of Canada this week held the benchmark at 2.25 per cent yet again, because, as Erica Alini reports, the latest exchange of tariffs with the U.S. has only heightened the two risks it’s balancing: inflation and a potential major economic slowdown.

“So far, that has meant stability for variable mortgage rates, which tends to move in tandem with the Bank of Canada’s policy rate,” Erica writes, but it’s not good news for every rate. “On the other hand, investors’ concerns about U.S. debt, inflation and the U.S.-Iran war are among the reasons for the recent global run-up in bond yields, which influence fixed-rate mortgages.”

Now you’d be hard pressed to find a fixed rate below the 4-per-cent mark, and as Rachelle Younglai reports, that’s already keeping buyers on the sidelines. Toronto home sales fell in August after five months of rebound, showing that the trade war may cancel out any confidence the steady rate decisions give buyers. Our coverage of the BoC’s decision has all the details, and here’s Erica’s guide to how Canada’s countertariffs might hit your wallet.

Has traffic seemed worse lately, or is your train to work really getting more crowded? If you’re in Toronto, it’s not just your imagination. Return-to-office mandates are bringing workers back to the downtown core – sometimes much to their chagrin – and transforming the urban economy in the process.

The reversal has been fast and shocking, as Jason Kirby, Rachelle Younglai and Vanmala Subramaniam report. Many of Toronto’s tallest towers are filled to the brim when, as recently as 15 months ago, blocks of their floors sat empty. Companies landlords once courted with steep discounts and perks are now competing for leases, turning corporate real-estate back into a landlord’s market.

But with many workers frustrated by long commute times and no desk space when they do come in, the return to office hasn’t been all smooth sailing. Read the team’s deep dive into how in-office mandates are reshaping Toronto’s downtown, and how employees are feeling about it.

Rates shown are the lowest available for each term/type and category (insured vs. uninsured) as of market close on Thursday, Sept. 3.

Looking for a home that’s anything but cookie-cutter? Much-needed “missing middle” housing is starting to look a little different in Calgary, thanks to changing land-use policies that leave designers room to get creative.

After the city allowed densification on lots previously zoned for just one or two dwellings, about 5,000 standard row houses popped up in two years. As Ximena Gonzalez reports, that zoning’s requirements for height, footprint and setback can make the designs seem repetitive, and they’ve changed the face of some Calgary neighbourhoods.

But after the city rescinded that policy, designers told Ximena they’re taking advantage of other recent land-use classifications that offer the flexibility to build livable multi-family dwellings with character. From a window-filled design that spared mature trees to a low-rise building geared at seniors and students, these Calgary projects are breaking the mould.

If you – and your lower back – ar