Over the past few years, house prices that provoke disbelief have dislodged weather as the favorite subject of small talk in parts of Canada, particularly Vancouver, British Columbia and Toronto. Given how much Canadians talk about weather, that’s a notable achievement.

As I wrote earlier this year, there are many factors behind eye-popping prices, even for tiny and unappealing bungalows in those cities. This week, my colleague Kevin A. Wong looked into how the billions of investment dollars from China are being received in Canada. He found that anxiety is a common response and that “many Canadians blame Chinese money for soaring home prices in places like Vancouver.”

Everyone agrees that the oxygen fueling the home-price fires has been record-low interest rates. But for the first time in seven years, the Bank of Canada this week raised its benchmark lending rate. The rise was modest: a quarter of a percentage point, bringing the rate to 0.75 percent.

Because Stephen Poloz, the central bank’s governor, dropped not-very-subtle hints that an increase was on the way, several banks began raising some mortgage rates before Wednesday’s announcement. Mr. Poloz is among the many economic experts who have been wringing their hands over Canadians’ growing debt levels as well as house prices that seem increasingly divorced from reality.