Certainly when you're looking at rates close to 0.9% several years ago—in 2022—compared to 5.95% today, that's a dramatic difference. When it comes to affordability, you have to qualify not only at the rate, but at the rate plus 2% in many cases. For many people, that qualification standard does not allow you to qualify for the mortgage you need to buy the home you want.
When housing prices are at the million-dollar mark in Toronto and Vancouver, those people cannot afford homes, because they need to have an income of $200,000 a year to qualify for that property, which many Canadians don't have when the average income in those cities is much less.